In New Orleans there is a witch, her name is Maggie. Maggie the witch sends people to Hell and brings them back again, for a price. Nathan Walker has lost his mother, somewhere in the depths of Hell she is hidden, and he would pay with his life to get her back.
Now Nathan's mother is in Purgatory, and his determination will be tested, as he climbs the mountain with Morgan McCallister at his side.
Follow Dante's path through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven in this modern re-telling of his Divine Comedy.
Morgan and Nathan floated in Space—two souls in the Void. Morgan’s hair hung out eerily in all directions. Her only safeguard was Nathan’s hand, and the sword. Nathan had Morgan. He had just watched his mother die. They had walked through the den of Satan. They had looked out on the edge of the Void and jumped. And now they were here, where the sky was dressed in all the colors of the universe, and the stars seemed close enough to hold, and so far away that they could never be reached. Here where they could not breathe, but did not have too. And the world and all the worlds, suns, comets, moons, and sprays of light spread out for them in a view that no human had seen, living or dead. On through the Void they tumbled, and could not speak. And what would they said to each other? Those two souls. What solace could they give? They would end up in Purgatory, they hoped, but nothing was likely for them anymore. How much time had passed? They did not know. They had no map, no direction—and so they drifted.
Then they were sucked up, pulled forward. They gained speed, and the light around them became a blur. They hurdled end over end in a vacuum of light. Then stopped dead in the middle of a group of people. Gravity was given back to them and they landed hard on the ground. They picked themselves up and looked around at this new place, and the people waiting to greet them. But they were not people—not human people at least. They had the forms of humans, of women—thirteen women—of all sizes and shapes; some dark haired, others fair; some dark skinned, others pale; some tall, others short. But they were not human. And around them they could still look out onto the bare universe. They were on a floating rock in Space, and below them was simply paved stone. No one spoke. Morgan dropped Nathan’s hand and took up Excalibur in a fighting stance. The woman across from her did not move, her austere indifference did not change, but the woman beside her smiled slightly, and she was the first to speak.
“Will you kill my sister Morgan McCallister?” Morgan straighten at the words.
“So you can talk,” she said. “You brought us here?”
“Of course,” the woman replied simply, and now others in the circle of thirteen were smiling. “Who else?”
“And who are you exactly? Are you angels or demons?” At this the smiles of the circle grew, and now it was only one woman in the group who still glared, and it was the one directly in front of them, the one who had her eyes locked onto Morgan since she started forward.
“We are younger than most angels, but we were made in the beginning, before the rebellion and the Fall of Lucifer, and before your planet formed. You might call us the elements, or the natural law of the universe, that is what we are on your world. My name is Chaos, my sister is Order.” And she gestured to her right, at the woman who would not smile.
“But it seems our natural order is being disturbed,” said Order. “You two are changing what has been—”
“So we have decided to bring you here, to our home. We could send you on to the place you wish to be, to Purgatory—”
“Or we could cast you out into the Void which you left, and let you find your own way as the natural order may decide.”
“How will you decide?” Morgan asked, Nathan was standing behind her, but he was deathly silent, and had barely looked up at the circle while they spoke.
“You will be tested, we will show you visions of the past, true recollections which we have prepared, and you will answer our questions. If you are worthy to go on we will send you away.”
“What if we don’t want to take your test, what if we don’t want to see your visions? You brought us here, but we didn’t ask to come, so we don’t have to do what you say!” Morgan said loudly, and in front of them Order changed, she was suddenly not a woman, but a man, and the transformation happened quickly. The man Order bulged forward at them with rage painted on his face.
“You will answer our questions or you will die in the Void!” Chaos stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, and just as suddenly Order was a woman again. “If you do not participate, you will fail the test,” she said. “If you fail the test we will expel you back out into Space.”
“You did not ask to come here,” Chaos continued. “But if we had not brought you, then you would have drifted through the Void forever. There is no direction from the Den of Satan, only a demon could exit that place and fly to Purgatory. For a human it is pointless.”
“So Satan sent us away to die?” Morgan asked, that didn’t make sense to her, not that Satan would do something like that, but the fact that he had let them go. Why not kill them if he was just going to send them out into Space.
“We do not know the mind of Satan, he is older than us,” said another woman, she had grey hair and was the only one in the group that showed any sort of age. “It is time children, you must take our tests. Prepare yourselves.” Morgan looked over to Nathan, their eyes met, she saw no interest there, no excitement, only sadness.
“We’re ready.” The group of thirteen raised their hands.
They were standing in a palace of light, huge architecture spiraled around them, extending up to a ceiling that seemed miles above. Filling that chamber, that Great Hall, were angels, thousands of them. Nathan had never seen an angel, but they could be nothing else—as demons were disfigured and beast-like in their appearance, these were not, save the feathered wings that spread out behind their backs; they were beautiful, and proud, and clean—and there were multitudes of them, spreading back and out of the room further than they could see. At the very front of the group was an angel he recognized—he was different, changed in form but not in face, and though light shone from him as all the rest, he held himself with shoulders bent forward, and still the bones of his face stretched the skin, and his eyes were hungry—Lucifer stood at the front of all these beings, and it seemed he waited like the others.
Then Morgan’s eyes found someone else in the crowd they recognized, and in the same way that Lucifer looked the same but different, so too did Berith, and he stood three rows deep in the group near the front. Morgan stepped forward towards him, but Nathan held her back—none of the angels had seen them, though they stood out clearly, no one had looked over at them standing in the hall. They could not see them, this was a vision of the past and nothing more. Lucifer looked around and then stepped forward.
“Brothers and sisters,” he said, and everyone turned to look at him, some angels leaned forward to listen.
“We have waited, the universe spreading, while we stand here for the news that was promised. The life that grows on a faraway planet is the peak of our interests, this is what we wait for. I have seen it—in the far reaches of the Void. God has blessed us once again! Do not I remember, as no other does, the cold reaches of Space when it was only I, only me and the Most High? When He created me first, did I not rejoice in His company? Did I not love Him as worlds were created, as no other has loved someone, for before there were no two to love. But did I not say to the Most High that our love could be more? That it could be spread further. That we should endeavor to make more, to make multitudes?
“And so we worked, and now I see before me those multitudes of which we dreamed. I rejoice again, I rejoice! You have been more than imagination could conceive, for you all possess that which is not your brothers, nor your sisters. You possess individuality. We find ourselves utterly different, yet made from the same idea. The idea that more to love, more to see, more to have, is better. And now deep within the Void there is another life growing, as I have seen. It has appeared on a planet, with no hand of ours to help it.” And at this the crowd shuffled and whispers broke out, but Lucifer raised his hands once again and they were quiet.
“You know of this already, there have been rumors and whispers. I have heard them in my own ears. And that is why we were called to this hall, on the command of God, for news of this new life far away—life which is different from us. But again I say, remember, as I do, the coldness of the universe before we were brought into being, remember that I say that more is better! God will come and he will tell us of this life, for my part I will rejoice, because—” there were gasps from the crowd of angels as a light appeared, and it was such a beam in that place already filled with light that Morgan and Nathan could not look at it, though the angels stared at it in rapture; their eyes found Berith, and his face had been transported, and it was alien to him—such a look of joy—as something familiar that has been changed completely, because he had never looked so happy while they had known him. And then a voice spoke, and it came from the beam but sounded everywhere at once, it was not male or female, it held no emotion, but it was deep, and the words swept away all thought and stayed ringing in their heads for many moments after.
BEHOLD MY SON
The light faded. They could look at the altar once again, and what had appeared there. Lucifer stepped down and turned to look at a man—and he was a man—no wings grew from his back, no light shone from his body, he had a simple face, with long brown hair that grew to his shoulders. His skin was light brown, and his smile was kind. The man looked out at the multitude of angels, and from the air swooped down a dove which sat on his shoulder.
“Behold!” the man said, and his voice carried across a thousand heads. “I Am Who Am, the Son of God. I have not been created but split. I am the Most High, and He is Me.” The man stood smiling at them all and there was silence. The great hall waited with baited breath for the man to speak further, but He did not. He stood patiently.
Lucifer moved, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “What of the life?” he asked finally. “The life I saw.” Jesus’s eyes found Lucifer, and his smile held.
“The life has been given by God to grow, but it is not as we are. It will grow and then die.” At this there were noises of shock from the crowd of angels. Lucifer’s face was a frozen mask.
“It will die?”
“And reproduce. And then yes, die. Over and over again this life will reproduce and die, and the corpses of these lives will feed more life, and it will grow as we cannot, it will change as we cannot. The life now which is so minuscule, so singular, will evolve over time to become greater, but this life is different from us. We will not enjoy its speech, or its company, for it will be soulless. It will grow only to die.” Morgan looked away from the man’s face to Lucifer, who stood in utter shock. She thought she saw something she recognized from him, possibly the anger she had seen in his Den, though it was masked by the changes in his appearance.
“But rejoice,” Jesus continued. “There will come a time in the future when that life will grow to look like me, and a race of this life will grow beyond the other races. They will find the image of God in me, and then their lives will be changed. God will take two of their race, and He will give them souls. He will give them Free Will. He will give them a place in Heaven.” At this the hall of angels was deathly still, until Lucifer stepped forward.
“What is your name?” he asked the man.
“I Am Who Am, the Son of God,” Jesus repeated.
“And it is God’s will that life will die? For the first time in the history of our universe?”
“It is God’s will.”
“Then so may it be,” Lucifer replied, and he walked out of the great hall, and others walked out with him, but most of the angels stayed. The vision faded to the sound of angels singing. Morgan and Nathan were back in the circle of thirteen.
“What was that?” Morgan asked immediately.
“Did you not see?”
“So God made Jesus, that was Jesus right? But the things on Earth died and Satan was mad about that?”
“No, not Satan, Lucifer, this was before the rebellion. And God did not make Jesus, He split His being into three. Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit at once. After this moment God began to pull away from his angels, He has only spoken to them in mass four times since, and only very briefly as you saw. It is Jesus who speaks to them.”
“So they got angry about that?”
“No, they did not. They loved Jesus as they loved God, and loved them both the greater. Even Lucifer loved Jesus, it was not the Son who pushed Lucifer into his misdoings.”
“That’s not what the demons in Hell said to us.”
“Perhaps they saw what they wanted to see… Lucifer and Jesus became estranged, yes, but again, it was not Jesus that pushed Lucifer out of Heaven.”
“Then what did?”
“We will show you. But first you must understand, up unto that point in the universe, God and his angels were the only living beings, they had souls, Free Will, and were individual. They did not die—they could not die. They are pure souls, their bodies are just an expression of those souls. You have seen demons, who have changed the appearance of their bodies over the years. You know that when a demon’s body dies their souls are sent to Tartarus, where they can reform. Even humans cannot truly die, their souls cannot be destroyed. Humans die on Earth every day, and their souls are sent to Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell where they continue to exist.”
“So when Jesus told the angels that life would die on Earth he meant that they would actually die, that they wouldn’t have souls?” Morgan asked, and Chaos nodded.
“Yes, indeed. It was unheard of, completely alien to anything the angels could comprehend.”
“But they were talking about animals?”
“Less than animals, on your planet life began with less than a cell, less than a single protein, and it moved on from there to what you would call bacteria; it took millions of years for that to grow into anything you would call an animal; but it did not matter, to the angels it was life, and before that time it was the only life that they had seen other than themselves.”
Morgan frowned at this. “So when they died nothing happened?”
“Exactly, until your race was formed, the life on Earth reproduced, died, and evolved, nothing more.”
“So Satan didn’t like that?” Morgan asked, but Chaos did not reply, and it was Order who spoke.
“It is time for our question, and answer carefully, for we will remember what you say when we are deciding your fate. What existence is more desirable: that of that first life which grew and escaped, which died and was ended, or that of your own souls, which are given some time on Earth and then after are sent to exist for eternity in one place or another—whether it be Heaven or Hell?”
Morgan looked at Nathan, and his face was blank. She thought his mind was somewhere far away, maybe still in the Den of Satan with his mom, and the questions of the thirteen could not break through the barriers of his sadness and lethargy. Morgan turned her mind to the question—they had just left Hell, and that place was disgusting, it was the worst thing she could imagine, not just because of the suffering, but for the eternal boredom that lived there.
“I don’t know,” Morgan said finally. “I saw an angel die—truly die—and I hated it. But I hated Hell too, and I would rather not exist at all then be stuck there forever.”
“So what answer do you choose, girl?”
“I would choose no Heaven or Hell, I would pick the first option.”
Nathan shrugged beside her, but he nodded his head to agree. The circle had pressed forward to hear their answers, some relaxed, others tensed. In front of them Chaos nodded, though Order’s face was as cold as stone.
“So be it,” Chaos said with a wave of her hand. “Prepare yourselves.”
They were in a room, a large room and designed in the same alien way as the great hall they had just been in, though smaller and the light from the angels in this room was subdued. Lucifer was there, still in his angelic form, and so was Berith, but there was another angel at the very front and her face made Morgan gasp. She wanted to reach out, to touch the woman with copper hair who stood listening to Lucifer speak, but she could not—Zephyr was gone, no matter what the vision showed.
“They are dying,” Lucifer said, directing his words out to the group. “They are dying! Still dying! Already a million lives have ended, a billion! These soulless—nothings—are erased every moment, and start again with no mind to the bodies of dust they step on every day. They are not animals anymore—they bang stones and make tools! They collect branches and make fire! They love each other! It is wrong, it is… evil… It is Evil.”
“What does that word mean?” Zephyr asked. Lucifer was standing in front of them all, and the passion had drained out of his body, leaving only a shell, but his hungry eyes still gleamed, and Morgan thought that this angel, though different from the Satan she had met, had grown much closer to the demon he would become.
“I do not know Zephaniah, it means something that I do not understand. It is wrong, it is against what is good, it is the opposite of good.” He looked around at the faces of confused angels. Berith watched Satan closely, seeming to calculate him.
Another angel stepped forward, one she did not recognize, he knelt before Lucifer, and when he rose he said. “There is word from the Son,” and his voice was entrancing, deep and rich, and they knew it—it was the same voice that filled a cavern deep under Hell where a dragon lay, and it belonged to Beelzebub. “A change is coming, God himself will go to Earth.”
“And why did Jesus not tell us of this news? We who have become estranged in Heaven for our stance, our protest against the soulless. That planet has swung around its star two billion times, and now God wants to grant what we have asking for? And Jesus would not come to tell us first.” The group around Lucifer nodded as one, some even looked angry. “This is more of the evil that I spoke of, the not-goodness, the wrongness that is in Heaven.” But Lucifer was interrupted, a new angel had flown into their midst, a woman with dark hair and intense eyes, she alighted in front of Lucifer and bowed her head.
“Lilith, what news do you have?”
“God has left the throne. He is going to Earth. It is happening now!”
“Then we must go too, we will not be excluded from this great event.”
The vision shifted, they did not go to a different place, instead time moved faster, and Morgan and Nathan sped along beside Lucifer and his followers through Space. When it stopped, they were on Earth, and the sky was full of angels, but Lucifer and his party were at the back. They looked down at a single mountain, which stood in the middle of grassland that spread out as far as they could see, descending towards the mountain top was a column of pure light, too bright for them to look at directly.
Nathan and Morgan were drawn closer and suddenly they were there on the mountain, in a cave where two beings cowered. They were caveman, Morgan thought, totally naked, with the large skull and dense black hair that she had seen in pictures in school. The cavemen’s eyes were rolling around in fear, and they scrambled to the back of the cave to get away from the light, hugging onto each other and grunting. A dove flew past them and touched each on the forehead with its beak. They spasmed, and then got up, their bodies changed. And now it was clear that one was male and the other female. The man looked like Jesus, and then Jesus Himself walked in the cave and Morgan could look between the two and they did look similar, though the face of Jesus was serene, and the face of the new man was excited.
Jesus stepped forward and the two people bowed; Jesus smiled and reached forward to touch their faces. “She is you, and you are he; feminine and masculine now separate. God has given you two souls, and now I will give you names, him Adam, and her Eve. Will you rejoice in the name of God?”
“Yes,” the man croaked, and he seemed shocked at his own voice.
“Then go down from this mountain, to the garden which is below, and be joyful.” But something had caught Morgan’s eye—at the entrance to the cave there was a figure, he had moved closer to listen, and now he turned his head away. They followed Lucifer as he flew back from the cave mouth, off into the sky and back into Space, and they floated along together, just Lucifer and the two human spirits.
Time again sped up so it seemed that the stars around them were single beams of light, and Lucifer would not stop flying until he reached the very end of the universe. But he did stop, on a ball of rock deep in Space he landed, and there they watched him cry. And such a release of passion came from his throat that they thought the rocks would crack open and this tiny spec in Space would be destroyed. But the storm ran its course, and Lucifer calmed.
“They will never know the suffering of their fathers,” he said to himself. “They will never know the soulless which came before. Life will only be good to them, and yet before it was evil.” And at the word ‘evil’ Lucifer pulled at his skin, he tore at himself, and as he pulled, something withdrew from his body. Lucifer wrenched a woman away from himself, and she fell to the ground at his feet. She was ugly, her hair matted, her mouth gross and crusted, her eyes bulging. She got up from the ground to look at Lucifer and he recoiled from his creation.
“What are you?” he asked.
“I am Evil,” she replied. Morgan and Nathan were back in the circle of women, and all were staring intently at them.
“What would you ask us concerning that vision?”
“So that was Adam and Eve?” Morgan asked.
“Yes, that was clear I hope.”
“Why could we understand them? They couldn’t have been speaking English.”
“Before the humans of your world created the tower which they called Babel, language did not exist as you know it. Words were understood by all—it was the language of Heaven—which could be understood by all things, even animals. After Babel, God punished the human race with language, and the language of Heaven was lost, but you can still understand it. It is the most orderly way of speaking, and the change brought more chaos to your world than you could imagine.”
“Okay,” Morgan replied. “And evil? Satan created that too?”
“Again, he was not quite Satan yet, though he was getting very close to that name when you last saw him. You saw Lucifer create Evil, he thought of it as the opposite to goodness. He believed that God created it when he allowed the life on Earth to live without souls, but he was the first to conceive the idea that something could be not-good—God did not create it. From that conception in Lucifer’s mind he drew from himself the physical embodiment of his thought, which was the creature you saw.”
“What did he do after that? Lucifer I mean.”
“He hid Evil in the place where she was created, he did not tell anyone that she was there, but from then on he was changed, the knowledge that evil existed ate away at his mind from the inside, and he could not contain what he knew; he began to teach his closest followers, the ones that he had a hand in creating, about evil, and all the while Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden and were happy. The life of an angel spans eternity, and time moves for them slowly. They might spend a year in solitary reflection, they might spend a year speaking to each other, but for a while, more so than any other period in history, time moved quickly in Heaven; within fifty years Satan’s followers had grown, and they were ready for the rebellion. They believed in this idea, the concept of evil. And all of them were changed.”
“It was special to them—Evil—it was new and exciting and wrong. They thought that God had made this thing, for God had made all things. They thought that the members of God’s party—the army of Jesus—were misguided, that they did not understand fully. So they began to practice evil, they began to love the not-good that they could do.”
“But it couldn’t have been,” Morgan cut in. “You said that Earth had been around for two billion years, it couldn’t have been the first time that bad things ever happened!”
“No, things that you might call ‘bad’ did happen in the universe, but it was the first time anyone knew what they were doing and chose with Free Will to do evil. If two of the soulless cavemen before Adam killed each other, it was not evil, though Lucifer and his followers might have called it such; if a meteor crashed into Earth and killed most of its life, it was not by the choice of any angel, but the working of simple chance. Think of the vast Void, were a meteor might crash into an empty planet at any moment—that might be considered bad by both the planet and the meteor, if they had minds to think, but it is not evil. It was only after Evil had been created that evil could be manifested. In the fifty-second year after Adam was given a soul, Lucifer led the rebellion in Heaven under the banner of evil. His followers believed that they were creating a balance between good and bad, their view was that without both the universe was empty, but before the rebellion Lucifer came to see Evil first. We will show you that meeting, I think it will help you answer our next question.”
They were back on the empty planet in Space, and Lucifer flew down to land beside them. He was different in appearance, and less light shown from him than it had in the other visions. He pulled back a rock and beneath there was a tunnel, and the dull light that shown from him lit that dark place as they followed him down into the earth. At the bottom was the ugly creature that was named Evil, and she raised her gruesome head to watch Lucifer come closer. The two embraced, and the hoarse croak of the woman called the angel father.
“I have grown stronger,” she said. “I am in the hearts of many now.”
“Things are changing in Heaven, soon you will be in the hearts of all,” Lucifer replied, and without a blink he pulled out a jagged shard of rock and drove it into the chest of the woman. She gasped, but Lucifer’s face did not change, and as she fell he pulled something away from her, and two creatures hit the floor of the cave.
“Behold,” Lucifer said, “I have given you a son, his name will be Death.” The new creature stood, and it looked like a man except for the scales which ran down its back, and the evil points that tipped its teeth. Beside him Evil stood too, the hole in her chest repaired, and she looked between Lucifer and her new child with reverence.
“I will need you both,” Lucifer said, “I will make my rebellion in Heaven, and those who cannot conceive of your existence will learn soon what you are. I will use you, and I will win, and no more will the universe be chained by goodness.”
The vision faded, and Nathan and Morgan were back among the circle of thirteen once again.
“You just saw the creation of Death.”
“But death already existed,” said Morgan, confused.
“Not murder, not the killing of others, not the choice of a Free Will to end the life of another.”
“But angels can’t really be killed.”
“No, but that is the point, until this moment in a cave in Space the concept of murder was not considered, it did not exist because you are right, angels cannot truly die, so what would be the point of two angels killing each other. When Lucifer returned and his followers attacked the high places of Heaven, Death and Evil were there with them, and for the first time the angels who did not listen to the teaching of Lucifer realized what it was to see evil. And both sides fought, and it was not only Lucifer and his angels who killed. You see, once an idea is discovered, it cannot be unlearned, and after that first killing of angel on angel, the universe was changed. Lucifer might have won, for seven days and seven nights they gave battle, the forces of Heaven were more numerus, but Lucifer was cunning and his army was willing to do anything. But finally God intervened, and named Lucifer Satan, and cast him far away to Hell, to the planet which you just saw, and cursed that place as a prison.”
“Could they have actually done that? Killed God?”
“No, God cannot be killed. Lucifer could not have killed God, but what he did by trying gave him everything that he wanted. His obsession with evil, with the balance of good and bad, it was realized after the rebellion, and now even the most devoted angels in Heaven are killers, and evil is part of their minds.”
“Time is moving on,” Order cut in. “There are more memories which we would show you, but first we must know—you two have never known a world without evil, your lives have been filled with it.” And somehow she seemed to be speaking more so to Morgan, though her eyes were on them both. “Would you change that? Would you make it so evil did not exist, as it did in the beginning?”
That answer was easy for them both—yes!—but somehow they could not say it. “How can we answer that?” Morgan said after a time of silence. “How could we know what it would be like not to have evil? Anyway, you said that bad things would still happen, like hurricanes, and earthquakes, and random stuff like that. If Satan hadn’t made Evil, bad things would still happen, and if he hadn’t made Death people would still die. I guess if there were no evil there would be no Hell, and that would be good, but if you’re saying that without evil everyone would just walk around in gardens their whole life doing nothing, like Adam and Eve, then I wouldn’t want it.” Nathan remained silent so Morgan continued. “I hate this Heaven and Hell thing, if Hell is where you go when you’re evil, then fine get rid of it, but I don’t think so somehow. Sometimes people are born with evil, and maybe they can’t control it. Things are the way they are, and saying that we’d love a world without evil is only part of the truth. Is that enough for you?”
“We require a yes, or a no. Would you choose to end evil in the world?”
Nathan nodded his head yes, and Morgan shook her head no. They looked at each other and understood that their answers were mostly the same.
“A split decision,” Chaos said. “That is the problem that two has and thirteen wishes for, but we will move on with the test.”
“After the rebellion and the creation of Hell, Satan and his demons were disheartened, they found themselves in a cave floating in Space, with only dark pits, and fire storms, and sulfur lakes, it was as barren and desolate as anywhere could be. But some kept hope, the demon Beelzebub, who you met as the dragon Beelzebad, spoke and gave them energy, and then Satan stood, and he told them of his plan, his true plan. That this was one step in his rebellion against Heaven, and that soon they would have their revenge and their freedom. He left them, and seemed to go away alone, but before he left he told them to build him a fortress, and to begin making Hell an abode which they could be happy in, free from the eyes of Heaven.”
“When he left,” Order continued, “he found the Gate out of Hell, the one which you two know of and used to reach the sword Excalibur. There waiting for him were his creations, Death and Evil, together they broke the lock which kept the gate closed, and the three of them traveled together through the Void all the way back to Earth, but before they went to your planet, they were brought here to us, just as you have been.”
At this another vision began, they found themselves in the same place, with the same women standing in the same order and in exactly the same positions, except now Nathan and Morgan were watching from the side, and the center of the circle was occupied by three figures: Satan dressed in black robes of an ancient style, his face a mask of pale skin stretched tight over protruding bones, his hungry eyes, which seemed to eat up at the very universe, peering around at the circle. He was the same demon they had seen a short time ago. Beside him the ugly woman was bent, she had aged, and the skin of her face sagged, her mouth was open and drool fell from her lips, her black hair was tangled and oily, and her nails were long and filthy. On his other side was Death, and they recognized him too, he had grown from the boy with scales down his back that they had seen, now he was big, bigger than Satan, his black robes billowed as if there were a wind that touched him and no one else, featherless wings spread from his back, and his eyes were two flames in his head—this was the same Death that had offered them an apple from the Tree of Life, the one who had called himself Hades.
“Why have you come here?” Chaos asked, and her voice was sharp and loud. Satan did not reply, he was looking around at the circle of thirteen arrogantly, finding each one with his eyes before moving on to the next, beside him Evil drooled and Death smiled.
“WHY!” Chaos shouted, and she changed in front of them, her form mutating into that of a man, and his face was filled with rage. This man Chaos leaned forward and it seemed that he was about to attack, to kill the creatures in front of him, but Satan smiled and put up a finger, and Order reached forward and put a hand on Chaos’s shoulder, pulling him back into line.
“Why would you treat me so, Chaos king of the Void?” And Satan smirked as he watched Chaos turn back into a woman.
“You would come here so soon after your failure? You would break the bounds of your prison, and you would think to escape into the Void?”
“Escape? No,” Satan replied coldly. “I have work to do. There is a disbalance in the universe, there used to be two such places, and now there is only one left. I have cured Heaven of its disproportion, I have fixed what the Most High could not solve. I have given you thirteen more power than you could have imagined. Before my rebellion you were not allowed in Heaven; there was order among the ranks of angels yes, but it was not real—an artificial order—I have not felt your presence in Heaven for a millennia,” he grinned at Order. “And Chaos,” he said, changing his tone and focusing on Chaos who was still breathing hard. “There was no chaos in Heaven, until I brought it there, until I brought you there. I expected you to thank me, more so than anyone else, for you I have unlocked the gates of Heaven. But there is still one place that you do not touch…”
“We live on the planet Earth, we have been there since the beginning!”
“Of course you have!” Satan replied. “I have seen your hands in the roaming of animals, the reproduction of bacteria, the destruction of species, I have seen it. For a billion years I have watched you thirteen play with ‘Earth’ as you would call it. Even the word which you would use tells me your feelings, for it means ‘home’ does it not? But you see now that you are barred from that place, the one which you would call home. You cannot go to the garden, the one which God made to be the most beautiful place on that island in Space. You cannot enter, you have been cast out, thrown away as I have. And the new race, that of Adam and Eve, made so pretty by the hand of God, made even to look like his own Son, you cannot see them can you? You cannot touch them. It is a shame, for I would have you spread your power across all of this vast Void, the one which you claim to rule.”
“Snake!” Chaos cried, and around her the circle shuffled and whispered. “Have you forgotten the form which God gave you not so long ago? Did you shed your scales so quickly or did you slither out of Hell on your belly? You will not promise what you cannot give, God has shown you to be weak, and we will not believe otherwise.”
“And yet,” Satan said still smiling, “what I say is true, I have let you into Heaven, just like I let my offspring there too.” And he gestured to the two who stood with him, and Evil cackled, and Death was silent, but the darkness around him grew and the flames in his eyes glowed brighter. “They were not allowed in Heaven either, they, as you, were not considered important to the Son or His Father. But I let them in, I changed what it was said could not be changed, and yet you doubt that I can open the gates of Eden for you? The lesser gate between here and Heaven. You think that I will not let my children into that Garden? I will, and I do not require your permission to do so; what I need from you is lesser, and for it your reward will be greater.”
“What is this reward which you would offer?” Order asked, and at her words Chaos’s face turned pale.
“I offer you the race of Adam, and dominion over the planet Earth for all time.”
“And what would you require?”
“A bridge, a place out of time between Earth and Hell. A bridge, which we could use to speed through the Void.”
“And you would use this thing?” Order asked, beside her Chaos was looking around wildly at the rest of the circle who were nodding, and looking at each other.
“I would use this thing, and my children, and my demons would use this thing. A simple bridge which would change everything, and give you more power then you have had since the creation.”
“We do not require power!” Chaos shouted, but around her the circle was shifting.
“We must vote,” Order said. “We must vote as we have since the beginning, and the will of the circle will be met. Chaos saw the faces of the other women and she grew even paler.
“Is that the will of the circle then?” she asked, and some could not meet her eyes, but others nodded, and Chaos stepped back.
“Nay,” she said, and others said the same, but just as many said, “yay,” to the question, and the score was even when the count swung back around to Order, and “yay,” she said to break the tie.
Chaos bowed her head. “So be it… we will build the bridge, may it be a curse to you and your demons.”
“May it be a curse to the race of Adam and the angels of Heaven,” Satan replied, and the vision faded away. Nathan and Morgan were back in the circle, and around them the faces of the women were somber.
“Was that the bridge Berith used to take us to the moon?” Morgan asked.
“Yes, it was, it spanned from the gates of Hell to Eden, which later became Jerusalem, where is the end of that bridge still.”
“What is it? What does it do?”
“With the power in this circle, the natures of velocity and time can be manipulated. It is complex, you might even call it magic, but it allows one to travel across Space in an instant, without time being effected. It was a powerful tool for the legions of Satan.”
“Some here did not see what the future would bring,” Chaos said. “Some here did not think what a bridge might be used for in a thousand years when Satan’s smooth words were blown away.”
“What do you mean?”
“We mean that for the last thirty-three thousand years the demons of Hell have been able to travel to Earth more quickly than angels ever could. They came to Earth and created confusion, war, and catastrophe. They pretended to be gods, they acted like great spirits, and manipulated the human race into unspeakable acts, all the while joined by the two offspring of Satan—Evil and Death. And though the angels battled with them on Earth as they did in Heaven, the demons had the advantage of speed, because of the bridge which we built.”
“Why didn’t you build a bridge to Heaven?”
“God would not allow it.”
“Why?”
“We cannot understand the mind of God, but after the fall of Eden He was disappointed again and again by the race of Adam; they would be tested between the powers of good and evil, and they would choose evil.”
“So what did Satan do when the bridge was made?”
“He traveled straight to Earth with Evil and Death. He snuck into the Garden when the angels thought he was trapped in Hell. He found Eve and came to her as a serpent. He spoke in her ear of the fruit which she could not have. He convinced her with his words, and she succumb, and with her Adam fell to his desire—to their shared desire. They took the fruit of the forbidden tree, and as they ate what Satan promised us came true. We were let back into Eden, and so were Evil and Death; and suddenly Adam and Eve were subject to us, and them; and when God came down they were ashamed of their nakedness, and the fruits of the garden which had been so delicious to them were now ashes in their mouths. Their eyes were wide open, and they were less happy. Evil and Death stayed on Earth, and they have plagued your world ever since.”
“But we saw Death, he was in Hell!”
“Death is in many places, just as we are in many places.” It was another woman who spoke, the one with grey hair.
“What is your name?” Morgan asked.
“I am Time,” the woman replied.
“So you all really aren’t people, or angels, or demons or anything like that?”
“We are ideas, we exist because the universe needs us to exist, because God thought of us and we were real to Him, just as Death and Evil were real to Lucifer, and so he created them,” Time replied, and she smiled at them.
“But you bent the rules to make the bridge, why?”
“Because Satan was right,” Order said, and Morgan remembered that it was her vote that made the decision. “We could not go into Heaven before the Fall, inside Heaven’s gates the natural laws of the universe did not exist. God made us, but He did not allow us to join his angels, He did not let us into His own house. We were meant for the Void, this place with its planets and stars, the vast cold and scorching heat, a barren waste land in which angels seldomly visit. But at least we had some life, on many planets and on your planet, on Earth. It was enjoyable, it was ours and it was important. And then, as Satan said to us, we were once again locked out of the Garden of Eden, the most important place in the universe at that time. And Satan offered us a way back in, a righting of the wrongs. He offered us order, and we chose to take it.”
“You just said there was life on other planets?”
“Yes, there is.”
“I don’t understand, that doesn’t make sense for the story.”
“This is not a story, it is history. In these vast cosmos there are other planets that have grown life over the billions of years since God brought it all into being.”
“So why was Satan so angry about our planet, and things dying there?”
“He was angry about all the planets, and all the life, but on your planet was the first race who was promised the image of God, and on your planet are the only other creatures in the universe who have souls.”
“So are there still other planets with life?”
“Of course! There are thousands, they have plants and animals, and strange creatures you could not even imagine.”
“I have had something to do with that,” another woman from the circle said, and Morgan and Nathan turned to look at her, standing directly opposite from Order and Chaos. “I am Entropy. God thought of a universe, and it came into being, from nothing came something, and He made Time first, later He made Chaos and Order to rule the Void, and then He made me.” And she smiled, “I am the natural end to all that He created.”
“What do you do?”
“I am the slow decay of this universe.”
“You said you were what made life on other planets?”
“Yes, that is true, life it seems is the fastest way to end the universe.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Energy is finite, since the beginning when God created the idea of me, the universe has been moving towards an inevitable ending, as all things must. But I am more than that, I exist to create an inclination for the universe to move as quickly as it can towards this end. All things participate in entropy, but the thing in the universe that uses the most energy—that moves most quickly towards this end—is life. Life is a consequence of me, you see. Light hits a planet like yours and there is a tree to suck up its energy, the tree grows then dies and decays. The energy is displaced, and so the universe moves one small step closer to death. Without the tree the energy would not be used. Without me there would be no trees, and so the energy would collect and would not be dispersed. Do you see?”
“And the human race collects the tree and uses it for fire?”
“Yes, the race of humans is the most efficient spenders in the universe.”
“So there are aliens then?”
“They are not alien to us. They exist to continue the laws of entropy. They live, they reproduce, they die, and most importantly they disperse energy.”
“Are they smart?”
“Some have intelligence, sentience even, but without Free Will they are what you would call animals, they are driven by the base needs of their lives. In some places this requires technology, in others it does not. But still, God has only ever blessed your race, the descendants of Adam with access into Heaven or Hell.”
“Why?”
“We do not know, it might be said that you are simply God’s people, the race of God, but His will is not understood by us. It is not important for us here.”
“But it is! That’s the whole reason Lucifer rebelled right? Why he thought of death. It’s because God created all this life, or he created her,” and Morgan pointed to Entropy, “and because of her, life created itself. So it is important, without any of this we wouldn’t be here, maybe we’d all be in Eden!”
“Maybe you would not exist at all.”
“Maybe, but still. Why doesn’t God give souls to all life?”
“Would you wish that all the trees that have ever grown would have souls that live forever? All the bacteria that has ever existed? The cosmos would be clogged with their spirits. God allows them to grow, and that is all. A tree cannot be happy that it is growing, or sad that it must die.”
“Animals feel sadness, dogs, they get happy and sad.”
“Good! Then God has given them something to make their existence better, but still they do not have souls. Just like what you would call aliens can feel emotion, but when they die there is no moving on. We asked you not so long ago if you could choose not to go on, to die as an animal would, and you were mixed. Is it still so? Would you argue for the soulless when you could be convinced to give up the afterlife.”
“Hell is terrible, we haven’t seen anything else, maybe if you sent us along to Purgatory we would be able to answer you. If Hell didn’t exist then fine, I’ll take the afterlife all day long, but what’s the point of living forever if you’re going to be stuck down there. And Hell was only created because Lucifer was mad about life being soulless. That’s evil, there’s no reason for it, people live their lives and maybe they make some mistakes, then for that they have to be burned for a thousand years.”
“Hell was not created for humans, God sent the demons there to keep them away from humans. You have seen Evil, the daughter of Satan, it is she who drags people to Hell. They let her into their lives until she is a companion, she walks beside them and has a hand in everything they do. When a person dies if they have Evil with them in their hearts, she takes their souls to Hell. It is what her father has told her to do. He sees the suffering of humans to be his greatest weapon against God. And it keeps his demons busy; he does not want them to think about where they are, or the fact that they were angels once and were happy. Many are convinced that they made the right decision when they rebelled, and they are busy enough with their humans not to have to think about it too much. Satan has told them that it is God who sends humans to Hell. The truth is they are wrong, and there were all much happier in Heaven, even Lucifer.”
“If God doesn’t want people to go to Hell, why doesn’t He stop it?”
“Because Evil exists, and when He gave humans Free Will He gave them the power to choose between good and evil. When Eve took the apple she allowed Evil and Death to come into her life, and so too the lives of her descendants. There are many humans that choose not to walk with Evil—more numerous than those who end up in Hell—others make different decisions.”
“Berith said that in the beginning all humans went to Hell, and it wasn’t till Jesus was killed that they could go to Heaven.”
“That is true, Heaven was closed after the rebellion, and it was so for many thousands of years. But you heard what Berith said about that place. The good people were given rewards in Hell, it was not so different from Heaven actually, in Elysium, the Isle of the Blessed. We will show you.”
Once again Morgan and Nathan were taken to another place and time. They were on Earth, they could feel it, and after the time they had spent away this barren half desert of a place seemed more homely than all the palaces of Heaven—and they could see that it was not all barren, there was a small garden with fruit trees around a square of tilled ground. Beside the trees there was a flock of sheep grazing on the sparse grass. One sheep was standing up on two legs to eat the leaves of a tree. A man walked into sight on the other side of the garden, he saw the sheep and froze. He crept forward, and from the ground he picked up a heavy stick. He was behind the tree now with the sheep on the other side eating the leaves. The man sprung out and swung the stick hard at one of the sheep’s legs, breaking it. The man yelled and laughed, chasing the rest of the herd away, while the one sheep remained to crawl and bleat. Another man ran up and he looked similar to the first, and he was yelling too.
“Why Cain? How could you do this?” The second man picked up the sheep in gentle arms while his brother glared.
The vision faded and they reappeared in a small hut, on the floor were piles of hay, and there was a bowl sitting in the middle of the room on a flat rock. Four people were sitting on the hay, and they were eating small pieces of fruit and scooping some sort of stew from the bowl with their hands. They recognized all four people: the youngest were the two men from the first vision, and now they were up close they could see their faces clearly—the man who was named Cain, with a sharp nose and downturned eye-brows, looked fierce and confined, like a tiger in a cage. The second son seemed sad, and he was only eating fruit. Then the man with the face of Jesus, Adam, and his wife Eve with her black hair now dirty—all four people were dirty—and it seemed that some time had passed since they had been in the garden of Eden.
“Father, one of my sheep has been injured,” said the man who had found his brother with a stick.
“How did this happen? You know that Jesus is coming.”
“It was an accident, but it’s back leg is broken.”
“Abel, you must be more careful,” said Adam sharply. “What we have is precious, and you must have the best sheep to give when Jesus comes.”
“Father, that was my best sheep.”
“What have I been telling you every night this month? This is our chance... We have not been visited by God since we were thrown out of Eden, and now we know that Jesus is coming here in a week! I told you to keep the sheep safe, I told you to have the best one ready, I told you that our very existence in this place of work and toil could be changed if God wills it.” Adam bowed his head. “Prepare the second best of the flock, and do not let anything like this happen again. Kill the broken sheep, we will eat it when our meat runs out. ”
“As you say father.”
“You yell at him?” said Cain, and all the people in the hut turned to look at him apprehensively, there was an angry light in his eyes which looked at home there. “You yell at my brother and do not blame yourself? You say that we must prepare sacrifices for God so that he will bless us? But if it were not for you we would all be living in paradise!” Eve reached forward to take the man’s hand, but he snatched in away with the same violet speed he had used to break the sheep’s leg. “Do not touch me, it is your fault more than anyone! If the snake comes back maybe you will leave with it and we will all be better off.” Cain spat, and spittle drippled down his chin as he stormed off into the night.
The vision did not fade, but sped up, and they followed Cain as he went out into the night and up into the hills. He walked a path that was familiar to him, and they soon found themselves in a cave. In the cave was a fire, and a woman who sat waiting for the man to come. She was beautiful, incredibly so, with clean brown skin and dark eyes, her hair fell in shining waves and her body was barely covered by the same kind of tan hides that the man wore around his waist. She rose gracefully and kissed Cain on the cheek, touching his neck as she did so.
“Why do you look angry?” she asked, and her voice was light and musical.
“Abel, he is tricky. He lets his sheep eat the leaves from my trees, they ruin the fruit—so I broke one of his precious sheep, made it so it’ll never eat my leaves again, and what does he do? He lies to my father and says it was an accident. He wants to make me feel guilty, he thinks he’s better than me with his virtue. He is a liar!” And at the last word the man shouted, and his face was red and contorted. The woman reach forward and took Cain’s hand, and led him to a mat beside the fire where she pulled him down to sit beside her.
“You will get what you deserve, when Jesus comes He will see. He will know which of you is the greater.”
“How? The fruit that grows from my trees are small this year, they taste sour. I can’t get them to grow like the trees in my father’s Eden.”
“Jesus will not judge you on your fruit, remember what I told you, that blood is the greatest sacrifice. Will you spill your blood so that God will give back all that He has taken from your family?”
“I will,” Cain said and looked away from her and into the fire; as they watched the flickering light played across the woman’s face, and for an instant she was changed, as she looked at the man greed came across her expression, and they recognized her, they had seen that same exact expression on the face of a woman in another cave, when Lucifer came to her and told her that she would come with him into Heaven. The beautiful woman was Evil, the daughter of Satan, and she watched the face of Cain hungrily.
They were pulled away from the cave, not to another vision, but another place in that same vision. They found themselves in a hut, smaller than the one where Cain had challenged his father. Here Abel was bending low in front of a sheep, the same sheep with the broken leg. It was resting on a mat of hay, the only bed in the hut. Abel was talking softly, and wrapping the leg with leaves, beside him there was a bowl of mud which he plastered onto the leg. He was petting its head, much like Evil was doing to Cain in the cave in the hills, though there was no greed on the face of Abel.
“My father wants me to kill you,” Abel said quietly. “What do you think about that?” The sheep bleated softly and tried to get up, but Abel pushed it back down gently.
“Yes, I agree. I think I will just fix your leg and then you can live for many more years. But you must not make a sound, or my brother will find you.” The sheep looked up at Abel with liquid black eyes and understanding passed between them. Abel nodded and continued to put leaves and mud on the fallen sheep’s leg, before laying down on the bare ground beside the mat which the sheep lay on. Morgan and Nathan were drawn outside, and there they watched the vision speed up, above them the sun and moon chased each other across the sky six times before the vision slowed again.
Adam, Eve, Abel and Cain were in a group talking, and Adam said. “He will come today. He will come out of the East, and you two must meet Him. He will come with angels and great trumpets and choirs of Cherubim, as He did in the past when He visited us in Eden. We will stay in the hut,” and he nodded to Eve. “My sons, you must offer the best of what you have to Him, and then lead Him back to us, and then we will all speak together.”
“And what will you offer him?” Cain asked.
“It is not for us to offer sacrifice, we are God’s chosen,” Adam replied shortly.
“It’s okay then, I will offer Him something great today, and soon we will be back in Eden, though it will not be by your merit, or my brothers.”
“Good,” Adam replied distractedly. “Go and get what you would give and walk the road East, you will meet with the Most High soon, may He bring us joy.” Adam walked off excitedly, and Eve followed him, back to the biggest hut in the cluster of three which stood beside the garden. Abel too walked off to gather his flock, and now Cain stood alone, and he looked up to his trees and smiled, and out from the leaves a woman poked out her face, and it was beautiful, and it was Evil. She smiled and nodded at the man, and he went off into his own hut.
Now they were with Cain and Abel on the road, and in Cain’s arms there was a bundle of fruit and vegetables, all small and wrinkled, in Abel’s arms there was a sheep with bright white wool and strong legs.
“Where is the sheep which you found injured? I do not think I have tasted it in our supper,” Cain asked.
“We do not yet need it for food. I have been keeping it safe for when we do.”
“So it is still alive then. Why must you lie brother?”
“I have not lied, if the need comes I will kill it as our father said, but now it is still growing, and I feed it carefully, it might walk yet, and its accident be forgiven.”
“Forgiven? If that sheep walks I will break it again, lest it come near my trees. Why do you think I have so little to offer? Your sheep eat my leaves and grow big, and my fruit suffers. I would say that we should trade offerings for this only.”
“I will trade with you if that is what you require. Let me take the fruit and you may have my sheep, if it has indeed benefited from your toil.”
“No, keep your sheep, though it is certain that because of it my work has suffered. I will give God something much greater than what I carry.” At this Abel looked over, and his face was concerned, but before he could speak Cain shouted, and looking forward they could both see a figure in the distance ahead. They walked faster and the figure got closer. It was a man like them, completely alone, walking out of the desert from the East—there were no angels with Him, or Cherubim, no trumpets or flutes. The man was dirty, covered in dust from the road. His feet were bare. He had a plain face and shoulder-length brown hair, and He looked exactly like Adam except for the expression on His face, which was grave.
“I have come,” He said simply, and waited for the brothers to approach. Abel fell to his knees and put out the sheep in front of him. Cain remained standing.
“Are you God?” he asked, and he could not keep the scorn from his voice.
“I Am Who Am, the Son of God. Would you not kneel?” Abel grabbed his brother and pulled him down beside, they both were on the ground, and in front of each of them their offering.
“We give this to you, what we have grown from the ground and what we have bred from the animals we have found. It is our best, may it be pleasing to you,” Abel said, and Jesus smiled.
“Your offering is good, but it is not the best of what you have. Go back and bring me what you have that is most dear to you.”
Cain frowned. “I have what is most dear to me right here.”
“Go back,” Jesus said, and there was a force in His voice which pushed the brothers to their feet. They began running away, leaving the sheep and the fruit with Jesus, and Morgan and Nathan followed them back to their huts. Abel went in and brought out the injured sheep, it looked healthy enough, though it’s leg was still covered in dried leaves and mud. Cain did not go back into his hut, while Abel was gone he pulled out a dagger which had been tied to his leg with string under his loin cloth. Nathan drew in a tight breath, and Morgan knew why—why this, of all things, could pull him out of his silence—she looked over at him and on Nathan’s belt was the same exact dagger that was in Cain’s hand, the one which had been given to him by the dragon Beelzebad, the dagger which Lucy Walker had used on herself to free them from Satan’s den. Cain looked to the trees, but Evil did not appear, he frowned and tied the dagger back to his leg. They both began the walk to Jesus, and Abel looked at Cain strangely.
“You have nothing else to give?”
“There is no more fruit, nothing more which I can give this ‘god’, and I see you would give him half a sheep, you would be better off with any other of your flock.”
“And yet, this one is more precious to me than any other, I will give the Son of God this sheep.”
Cain laughed. “I do not think we will see Eden again today my brother, but maybe I will give something more than what it seems I have.” Abel looked back at Cain with that same concerned look, but Cain ran on ahead, and Abel followed behind more slowly with his burden. Morgan and Nathan followed Cain, leaving Abel behind, until he reached Jesus.
“What have you brought for me my son?” Jesus asked, and Cain grinned.
“I would give you all that I have,” he said, and pulled out the dagger. In one violet motion he sliced the blade across his own wrist, and his blood sprayed across the ground at Jesus’ feet, where the first lamb had been laying comfortably. Abel came running up and he dropped to the ground to reach his brother.
“What have you done?” he yelled as he tried to stop the bleeding, but Cain held him back with the dagger pointed towards him.
“I have given what is most precious to me, and now maybe God will grant us the gifts which our father has promised.” Abel reached out to Jesus, who did not move away, He had been watching the two calmly, with the sheep sleeping by his feet.
“Save my brother, please. I will give you my own life, do not let him die!”
“What have you brought me my son?”
“This sheep, I have been caring for it for the last week, it was my best and still is, and I love it. I give it to you.”
“This is a great gift, for this I would give you a garden as beautiful as Eden, though I cannot bring you back to that place which was made for your parents. Would you accept?”
“Will my brother die?”
“He will, he would offer me blood, when I ask only for love.”
“Then save him, I would offer this sheep for my brother’s life, and we will continue without the garden you promise.”
“So be it,” said Jesus and at the same time Cain shrieked, “NO!” and lunged forward, but Jesus waved his hand and Cain was healed, the wound on his wrist sealed shut, leaving only the bright red stain to prove that it had been there.
“You fool!” Cain screamed. “We could have had it all back! I would not have died, can’t you see, it was a trick, we cannot die! We could have had it!” Cain moved forward, and he seemed awkward as the dagger fell into his brother’s chest. He pulled it out and pushed it back in with a manic intensity, though his eyes did not look at Abel until he fell.
“Heal him,” Cain panted, but Jesus was looking at three others which stood nearby, they had appeared while Morgan and Nathan were watching the murder of Abel, and now they stood close, the dark spirit with fire for eyes and black wings, the once beautiful woman who was now a bent old crone once again, and Satan with his hungry face and bones that stood out of his pale skin like tombstones.
“You have been here for long?” Jesus asked, and his words were directed passed Cain who stood over his brother, his shoulders rising and falling quickly, to the bent woman with the ugly face.
“Long enough,” she replied.
“You have taken this man’s soul for yourself?” Jesus asked calmly.
“I have.”
“Who is this?” Cain asked, looking between the two. “Who are they?”
“You know me,” the woman cackled. “I gave you that dagger.” Cain’s face changed wildly, looking shocked, confused, angry, below him Abel took one final breath which rattled through his broken chest. Above his body a spirit rose, and it took the form of Abel, though it was made of vapor.
“Here is your brother which you have killed, he cannot die as you have been told, but his body will live no more on this earth.”
“You would take him from us?” Cain yelled, and the dagger rose as he spoke, and it seemed that he would strike the man with the face of Adam, Jesus Himself.
“It was you who took your brother’s life,” Jesus replied. “But know that for his offering to me, and for the selflessness that he showed to you, he will not know pain or fear, it will be so at my command.” At this Satan stepped forward.
“Heaven is closed, would you break the will of God for this man?” Jesus turned to look at Satan and their eyes met and did not break from each other’s.
“His soul is for you to protect. You who have brought your children here to plague the race of Adam, you who tempted Eve, you who drove this man to murder, it is for you to carry his soul back across the bridge; to Hell you will take him and there you will care for him, lest God’s wrath comes to find you. For in Hell should be built a place for the blessed, and you will make it a place of joy where Evil and Death may not go. If they cannot trick them into their service on Earth, then your children will not have them in Hell.”
“And what of this one?” Satan gestured to Cain.
“He belongs to your servants, he has mated with Evil, his soul you may have forever, to do with as you may, as too all those like him.”
“I see,” Satan replied, thinking. “These are the words of the Most High?”
“He speaks through Me and it is done.”
“So be it,” Satan stepped forward, and the spirit of Abel, who had not said a word so far, spoke.
“If it is the will of God then may it be so, but I ask only one thing for my brother, and may I be damned to his own fate if that is the price. I ask that he is given a chance at salvation, so that in some far away time we might meet again, if it be the will of God.” He looked down at Cain who still held his body, but Cain looked away.
“May it be so,” Jesus replied. Satan reached forward, and bat wings spread from his back, he took the spirit of Abel up in his hands, and flew into the sky with him. Jesus stepped around Cain and walked towards the huts, the two sheep followed behind, one limping along, soon Jesus looked down and picked up Abel’s favorite sheep in his arms, to carry it to the hut of Adam. Cain looked at the two who had stayed with him in the dust. Evil had changed, and she was beautiful once again, beside her Death looked like a young man, about Cain’s age, strong and healthy.
“Your name will be remembered forever, great things have happened today, may the will of God be cursed,” said Evil, stepping forward to stand beside Cain.
“When I die, what will happen?”
“We will have long years together my love,” and she touched Cain’s face tenderly. “We will live together all the days of your life, and then all the days of your afterlife.”
“And my brother?” he asked and she bore her teeth.
“He will find no such love from Jesus, or His Father. They are more evil than we. He will have a boring life full of nothings and no one. We will rule the world and the underworld, we will bring all people under our power, and subject even the Earth to our will. I will bear you sons and daughters, and they will have sons and daughters which will do even more. It will be so.”
“And him?” Cain pointed to Death.
“He is my son, and will follow where ever we go.” Cain’s face fell, and Morgan thought he was the saddest person she had ever seen, and then just as quickly he was angry again.
“So be it,” he said gruffly. “We will not return to the hut of my father’s where ‘god’ now tells him of my deeds.” With that he walked away, and went with the children of Satan down the path which Jesus had taken into the East, leaving the body of his brother behind.
The vision faded and was no more, and Morgan found herself once again among the circle of thirteen, somewhere far in the reaches of Space.
“What happened after that?”
“Jesus came to Adam,” Order began. “He told Adam what Cain had done, he told Adam that his sons were both gone, and so too his dreams of Eden, though Eden was lost and could never have been regained. He told Adam to further his line, so that from him the likeness of God could continue, the race of man. Adam and Eve had another son, who was named Seth, and then after him many more children: 10 sons and 18 daughters.”
“How did those make a whole race? They didn’t have kids with each other did they?”
“No, only the followers of evil have ever mated with a sibling. Jesus came with no guard of angels, but many angels traveled to Earth at that time at the will of God, and some of them fell victim to love, though there were not many of these matches. It was with them that the line of Adam was continued, and they made strong children which began the civilizations of your world.”
“Like Egypt and Mesopotamia?”
“Yes, the children of Adam and the grandchildren of Adam traveled far, and some mated with the lower forms of the race which Adam was before he was changed—the cavemen as you would think of them—and they created human beings with souls. And others mated yet again with more angels, and they created beautiful children who would be Kings, and Queens, Pharaohs, and Emperors. They went to China, they went across the Bering Strait to the Americas, they pushed deep into the jungles of Africa, and were followed and protected by angels, and plagued by Demons, and Evil and Death also, they too took mates among the caveman race that already existed, and their children spread evil and chaos wherever they could.”
“What happened to Cain?”
“He lived a long life, long enough to begin building a city, and he had sons and daughters with the woman Evil, and at her bidding he married his sister Awan, who was born of Adam fifty years after Cain left them forever, and they had sons and daughters who mated with demons and Evil, and from them grew a race of evil men and wicked women.”
“The descendants of Cain mixed with Satan, and the offspring of Adam have fought many bloody wars throughout history, though in every battle you will find Evil on both sides.” Chaos looked expectantly at Morgan, but she could not say anything more. The circle was silent for a long minute, and the minds of the travelers were far away, and they both thought of Abel and the way he died, and what a waste that had been.
“Will you not ask us?” Chaos said finally, and Morgan looked up. “Ask us the question in your head.”
“What happened to Abel?”
“He lived in hell for a long time, thirty thousand years and more, and he was happy. Soon he was joined by Adam and Eve, and Seth and Noah, and all the siblings which he had never known; and the demons made them a garden; and indeed, Evil and Death could not go to that place which was called Elysium, and the Isle of the Blessed. It was as close to Heaven as one could get, and when Jesus finally came down to Hell, the son of God who lived and died to take away the sins of the race of Adam, He found Abel and they met as old friends long parted; and when the gates of Heaven were opened, it was Abel who stepped through first at the side of Jesus, behind them all the people who had ever lived that had not let Evil into their hearts; but they left many souls trapped in the Hell which you have seen; and when Cain died Death took him to Satan directly, and Satan froze him in ice, never to sleep, never to rest, and never to move an inch; there he has been all this time, and has spoken no word and moved not once.”
Morgan shook her head. “Why?” she asked. “Who gives Satan the right to do that. He killed Abel, but it was Evil who tricked him. How could someone be trapped in ice for that long? What does it accomplish?” Chaos face changed, and it looked almost as if she would smile.
“You would answer our question before we ask it, for the last question we will ask you is this: You have seen the sins of Cain, you have seen him murder his brother who was good and kind; you have seen why, and know now that this was not the last of the sins of Cain, nor possibly his worst crime: he murdered, abused, and manipulated until the day of his death, pushed on ever by Evil who stood at his side. What would you have done with this man? How would you punish Cain for his actions?”
Morgan looked at Nathan and his face was blank, he was thinking about the Den of Satan, as she was, and the crush of ice underneath and the dark solitude of that place, and they both looked away at the same time.
“Nothing,” she said, and beside her Nathan nodded.
“This is your answer? You would do nothing to this man? And what of your own father?” And at this Morgan’s body stiffened. “How would you punish him for what he did to you? You have the sword now, what would you do if he was brought here?”
“I’d cut him in half,” Morgan said promptly, “but my answer stands. We have no right to trap people in ice for thousands of years, and neither does Satan or God, I don’t care, not even Him. If it were my choice I’d end Hell, and Heaven.”
“Ahhhh,” Chaos said and it was a release of air from her lungs, and around them more of the circle sighed with her, and it seemed at least half of them relaxed, though Order’s face tensed.
“Then we will vote,” said Chaos, “I vote to let these humans travel wherever they will.” Order’s head swung sharply, but the vote continued, and six, and seven of the women said ‘aye’, though the rest of the circle said ‘Nay.’ Finally it was only Order who had not spoken.
“It is the will of the circle to send you on, but first I will show you one last thing, for the circle has agreed to send you anywhere, and I will give you this chance to choose somewhere else.”
One last time Morgan and Nathan were taken up into the visions of the circle. They were in a room which Nathan did not recognize, but felt familiar to him, beside him Morgan gasped; it was a simple room, with a bed and a window, the carpet was expensive and so were the drapes, but the walls were covered in posters of bands all with the same punk rock look. It seemed like every extra decoration that could be black was black, and it gave the bedroom a weird feel, as if it were fighting against the house itself. On the bed was a woman, and she picked her head up to look at them, and Nathan knew her face.
“Morgan?” she said, and her voice was soft and strained, tear lines ran clearly down her cheeks, and her eyes were puffy. “You came back.” The woman darted forward and before Morgan could stop her she tried to hug her, and went right through her body. She was grabbing at Morgan, trying to touch her face, but her hands were passing right through. Morgan’s mom was desperate, her face wild.
“Stop!” Morgan yelled. “Stop the vision!” And Morgan’s mother stopped too—she could hear them.
“Don’t go,” she said, and her voice cracked. “Don’t leave again.” And then the vision faded. But they weren’t back in the circle, they were somewhere else, somewhere gloomy and desolate, Nathan looked down to find that they were far above the floor of a cavern, and in his heart he knew they were back in Hell, and to his ears came the faint sounds of suffering. Beside him Morgan was crying softly, he reached out to her, but his hand past right through her shoulder, this was still just a vision, and she could not feel his comfort.
A groan from above got their attention, and they both looked up to see a spider’s web, a massive net of cords, the biggest spider web that ever existed. It was so big that they could not see the edges were they ended in the gloom. There in the middle a figure struggled, and it moaned out to them. They moved closer, floating through the air by the will of Order, right beside the cocoon, and could not see who it was through the cords that bound its body, but from his mouth there were the muffled attempts at words.
“Sword…. Morgan…” could be understood, but nothing else. The figure was straining forward with its arms, and then Nathan froze—he recognized the voice.
“No,” Morgan gasped. “Milton…” Movement on the edge of their vision caught their eyes and they both turned, a spider was creeping towards them, so large that at first it seemed like a part of the wall was moving forward, it had been warned by Milton’s thrashing, but it was moving towards them, creeping along slowly, its bulbus eyes fixed on them. Morgan slashed with the sword, but it passed through the web and did not cut, she cried out and as the spider got closer she turned her sword on it.
“I’ll kill you,” she said. The spider stopped, looking at them with what could only be contempt, and then it reached forward towards Milton. Morgan shouted and Nathan moved forward, but the vision faded, and they were back in the circle. Order was in front of them.
“What was that?” Morgan cried, and her eyes were still red from the vision of her mother.
“It is what is happening now. Those visions were as real as the first.”
“Why could they see us?” Morgan shouted.
“Because I chose to show you to them, as I showed them to you.”
“So my mom thinks she’s going crazy now?” Morgan said angrily, and the point of her sword rose a fraction of an inch higher.
“That is for her to decide, not us. I showed you those things to give you this choice. The circle has agreed to send you away, where ever you wish to go. You can go back to Earth, you could see your mother, you could try to live normal lives. You could go save your friend, the poet, find a way to get to him and cut him down from the danger he faces; we cannot get you back out of Hell again, but you found yourselves a way out before. Will you go to Earth and see your mother; to Hell and save your friend; or will you continue on to Purgatory—were you will face more struggle, more pain, away from everything you know—what will you do?”
“How long has it been on Earth since we left for Hell?” Morgan asked, her tears were gone now. Order looked around, clearly not knowing the answer.
“It has been four days, ten hours, twenty-seven minutes, and forty-two seconds since the moment you were frozen,” the woman named Time said matter-of-factly.
“That’s what I thought,” Morgan replied. “And I’ve been out of the house for more than a year, most of the time I don’t see my mom for weeks. Why would she be acting like that after four days?” Again Order looked around, trying to find someone to answer, this time it was Chaos who pointed at a woman in the back who had not spoken yet except to give her vote.
“Copy number 557131, I believe, of the New Orleans Post,” Chaos said, and the woman nodded, seeming to concentrate; she reached into the air, her hand disappearing for a moment before it came back holding a newspaper, which was handed down the line to Order, who gave it to Morgan.
“Page four.” Morgan flipped the pages and Nathan craned his neck to see.
Teenagers Found Frozen in Basement was the title.
“Oh,” Morgan said as her eyes flew across the page. “It says we’re in a coma, is that true?”
“I suspect you will not wake until you finish what you are here to do.”
“But you said you would send us back?”
“Yes, we could.”
“Why was my mom at home then? She would have stayed at the hospital. She’s done it before.”
“They sent her home, she was, in the doctor’s words, causing a scene.” Morgan rolled her eyes and sighed.
“She won’t go crazy, we can’t go back to Earth now,” she said, looking over at Nathan—he never would have chosen to go back, Satan said his mother would be in Purgatory. “Milton though…”
“May I say this,” Chaos began, and Order looked at her warningly, but she continued. “I believe that there are other ways to help your friend John Milton that do not involve you being sent back to Hell, I also believe that it was misleading to show you that vision with that in mind.” And she met Order’s eyes which were furious. Order was changing again and suddenly she was a man, and he had a weapon in his hand that looked like a spear with a club on the end.
“Stop brother, it was your right to show the vision and mine to tell them the truth. What are you so scared of?”
“Have you not met with Satan?” the man spat. “What did he say in the deps of his Den where we cannot see? Maybe you thought I would not know where you went such a short time ago? Did he call you right after these humans left or did he wait even five minutes for thought?” The man Order did not step forward, but his weapon was getting higher and higher, and his chest rose and fell with strong breaths. “And you know of the prophecy! Order must be maintained in the universe, these humans could destroy everything! But you know that!” he screamed. “You would love the chaos! That is why you want them to continue! You want the power for yourself!” And he hurled the last words out as if they were weapons themselves. Chaos sighed, and spoke slowly.
“Satan indeed wished to speak to me, and I will not tell what he asked me to do. Would you give away the prophecy so easily? Would you take back what fate has given the universe? The humans must go on, that is not by my will or Satan’s, but something stronger, I bow to it, though I am the queen of the Void. Long years have we fought brother, since the beginning we have been set at odds, but let us not now attack each other and for the first time cause physical damage, let us work together.” But Order did not change back into the woman she had been, and no calming words would he hear, he turned to Morgan and Nathan, and they saw something insane in his eyes.
“What will you choose?” he bellowed, and the women in the circle flinched as one.
“You said Milton will get help if we do nothing?” Morgan asked Chaos quickly.
“Yes,” she replied and Order yelled again.
“That is not for you to tell! Maybe it is that he will die and everyone else in the universe along with him if they go on!”
“Then send us on to Purgatory,” Morgan said, and Nathan nodded.
“So be it,” Chaos replied and raised her hands along with eleven of the circle with her.
“No!” Order yelled, but already they were fading away, and the yells of Order, and the look of rage on his face were the last things Morgan and Nathan saw of the circle of thirteen.