Hope's Light

Chapter 32

by Erisian

Book 6

 

If you have yet to read the saga - the tale starts here:

Into The Light

Hope you enjoy!

 

Part Seven

 

Chapter Thirty-Two - Gifts

 

Distant birds in Gabriel’s sky hang motionless, and the breeze ruffling through her brother’s soft curls ceases entire. The scene of the mighty slabs guarding the entrance to the Monument below sits frozen, and, unlike before, the page does not turn.

Everything remains still instead, as if suspended by Raphael’s previous words.

Until a different voice entire speaks.

“You have questions.”

The voice of the Book, the voice of Raziel, booms loud but not across this setting - only across the mind. I find myself sitting cross-legged upon the mountain, much as I was back in Camael’s room of meditations. “How can I not? Yet still I fear asking them. Is what you have shown truly all I need to fulfill my Purpose?”

“Secrets revealed from without are not all which are needed.”

“Must I ask: can Elohim be healed?”

“Raphael has yet to discover a way.”

“That does not answer the question.”

“Think, Amariel. Think on that which was not spoken.”

Fingers touch the dream’s dirt, worrying free a single moderate stone to balance across a palm. “You believe I can.”

“Should you solve your own mysteries, and explore the secrets you have kept from yourself.”

“You cannot just show me?”

“Just as I cannot reveal that which lies beyond Creation’s bounds, I cannot show what one would refuse to behold. And partial sight, partial understanding, is the very danger you seek to avoid. In such lies naught but madness.”

The stone is smooth, with a hint of blue to match the sky. “What is it I am refusing to see?”

“That which is hardest to view: yourself.”

“Can you help me?”

Across pebble’s surface, the color of that expanse smooths into sharper reflection.

“I may but provide a mirror.”

With trembling fingers the stone tilts and the face of an angel comes into view.

My face.

Except behind her features lay so much more.

A memory of the embrace by the darkest of tentacles and forced transition Beyond reaches out to drag me under.

And this time I don’t resist.

 

Primal Chaos.

All that could be, blended with all that never was nor is.

Truths that were not truths, lies that were not lies, all demanded perception in full - and, in so doing, ripped layer after layer of self into its maelstrom. Until only a simple core, a singular Name, remained.

Or so had I expected.

But I was not only a Name, not only a concept breathed into existence by the highest of thoughts emanating from the Source of All. I was daughter of the First of all angels, yes - but also daughter of a demi-goddess, and thereby a granddaughter of humanity.

And below that Name of Promise shone a spark granted each spirit forged within Jophiel’s sword-protected Garden. The sparks requiring a holy fruit’s Seed with which to achieve their fullest ascension and expression.

Such as the one Gabriel had gifted the final shards of Aradia as preserved by Azrael’s unbending will.

Preserved by Azrael’s most secret hope.

For that was the true Promise waiting within the Light upholding all that is: A path to the ultimate gift, to the grant of the ultimate ability.

The power to Create.

Creation Ex Nihilo. From the Nothing that held everything which could be, the potentials residing betwixt Abyss and Tapestry.

There, shrieking without voice and thrashing without limbs, I had buffeted across endless waves of immediate eternity - the experience etching itself into the heart of that spark, the spark which moves across the fundament forged by angels, yet was not part of. The spark which weaves threads of its own into the structures of Fate, to create that which was not possible before, to generate additional branches previously inconceivable within the existing matrix.

Everything that could be, everything imaginable and beyond, spun around that speck of Light. Entire universes could be born, generating entire fabrics of meaning hitherto unimagined. Blending the infinite Light with that fathomless spark could, if desired, also forge a new being.

One transformed into a new Source entire.

One which could spawn a Creation of its own, a forging exactly as could be desired. Not transient and ephemeral like those of the other beings I could sense swirling about within the Chaos, those surfing the potentials to play at being creators - all while wrapping themselves in endless transient illusions crafted without true substance, indulging in momentary islands of sheer self-gratified solitude.

No. I, too, could forge fundament and spirit.

I, too, could expand to not only channel the original Light, but explode a brightness uniquely my own.

I, too, could be Mother and Father of All.

However I wished to be.

Yet to do this would require separation, to move past a boundary beyond which there could be no possible return, not without destroying all That Is and Ever Was.

And in that moment outside of Time, when realization fully dawned alongside the overwhelming scorching need to unleash all that inner potential, through the concept of Threshold itself an obsidian hand reached out. Nearing panic against that rising infinite surge within, I grabbed on to those fingers like nothing I had ever grabbed onto before.

My brother Isaiah, my brother Azrael, with that hand they pulled me back.

And my eyes had opened once more upon Creation.

 

Within the meditation chamber of trees and artificial sun floated the Spear forged of the helical strands of Light and Chaos, each spiraling up the shaft to combine at the sharpest of tips.

Staring at the mind-bending mix of Brightness and Shadow, I finally understood what its duality represented.

Finally understood why it was mine to wield and how.

For it, too, had a Name, if one could but see and comprehend.

With a voice trembling with awe and trepidation, I spoke that Name aloud.

“Choice.”

A star-filled palm touched that shaft of duality and, after a hesitant pause, took firm grip.

Beneath those fingers the Spear pulsed, and in a brilliant flash the spiraling helix compressed and merged - until a singular beam of Light remained with a hardened point no longer of iron but something else entire, casting forth the Light of Creation as blended with a shine entirely original.

Together, those Lights banished all possible shadow from trees and room.

The mourning shade sitting heavy across my heart, however, lingered still.

 

~o~O~o~

 

Lilith caught me walking through the more luxurious halls. She was draped by the same emerald dress as before, except this time the hem bore darkening stains of splattered blood. That she hadn’t cleansed the fabric meant she fully intended others to see it.

As for me, a gown of simple lavender hung clean and loose to bare toes. Blood spilled from the battle had been banished to the domains of thought and memory.

“Amariel,” she said in an imperious tone. “We need to talk.”

“I’m on my way to the Aerie.”

“This shall not wait.” She stood in the middle of the hall - as if daring me to insult her by walking past.

“Fine. Here work? Or shall we find a conference room - or maybe an alcove to lurk about in?”

The mother of the Lilim did not smile. “The war is over.”

“At horrible cost, yes.”

“Thus your authority as Warleader will either end, or by demand’s acquiescence become more.”

I didn’t feel tired, yet I was. Thumb and middle finger pinched against forehead as her implication hit. “Shit. Vance and the twins.”

“Precisely. Release them to my custody.”

“I do that, and the Sarim will hold it against me.”

“You hold the Sefer Raziel, your quest here in Hell is complete. Why should you care what those squabbling idiots think?”

I stared at a vision of beautiful raven-haired ruthlessness, and sighed. “I get the feeling that slamming those doors is not the right thing to do.”

“By my hand were entire legions of the foe - staging from the wreckage of Mastema’s realm - kept occupied during the main assault. They would have swarmed your position otherwise. Consider my offspring’s release tribute for this aid.”

“And what then would I gift those who also participated? They either all fought for your collective defense, or as mercenaries. It cannot be both.”

Sharp violet eyes narrowed, a threat clearly swirling behind.

Determination rose within to match, and words came out snappier than usual. “And don’t fucking think of assaulting the Spires to grab them. Servitors of Light are posted to give warning, and Nathanael and Raguel stand guard - and they will summon my brightest of posteriors if needed to stomp any threats. I am not losing any more whom I love this day!! Got it?!”

“You would fight me over this? Are my family not also your friends?”

“I seek a better solution for them - and for all.”

She tsked, but grudgingly moved aside. “Solutions are compromises even at their best. Pick carefully.”

I didn’t walk on immediately, but instead paused due to a question pricking the brain. “Lilith - when your other self received shipments of Tears, were they then given to Raphael? Or to Gabriel?”

Her gaze fell to the golden scroll dangling within its case from the rope belt entwining my waist. “That is a dangerous question.”

“It is, isn’t it.”

“Are you certain you desire that answer?”

“No, but I may soon need it. Time will tell - just as for now you need to trust that I will not abandon your son and granddaughters.”

“That window is limited, and grows short.”

“For an eternal being, rushing seems awfully out of place.”

“We are caught in a crucible of change, are we not?”

“You aren’t the only archangel who has said such to me.”

“The truth of this is obvious, niece of mine.”

“No argument here. But back then, I had no clue. Even when Raphael first said it.”

She didn’t flinch from my pointedly meaningful look, but nor did she say anything further.

Moving briskly past, I walked on across the marble-floored corridor.

 

~o~O~o~

 

Upon entering the desk-infested center of the Aerie, Cassiel looked up from his seat at one of the displays.

“Amariel. Good, we need you.”

Navigating the maze of saluting officers (both angelic and demon), I reached Cassiel’s main console. “You know, the last time you said that I gained an uncomfortable new headpiece.”

“This time likely won’t be much better.”

I took in the displayed massive and singular image: a giant red sun pressing close to the planet I’d just left.

Oh. Oh no. “Is that thing cracking??”

He brushed blond strands away from an eye. “The entire realm, not just planet or sun.”

An empty stomach fell. “All those souls…they’re still there.”

“And they have no idea how or why. They’re like newborns, and their world is dying.”

“Can we get them out?”

“The realm has degenerated and become too unstable for the needed portals. And even if we could, their numbers exceed what other realms could easily absorb.” Cassiel shook his head. “Dis itself, large as it is, remains overrun with those who had been condemned to support the buildings. Beelzebub had tens of billions. The Sarim presiding over the other realms would refuse their arrival - these sparks would bring no resonances to bolster the remnants of their Names.”

I looked to the current ruler of Dis. “Can you take over that place too?”

“No. Even with your boost, such lies beyond my capability - my core pattern was never designed for such things. Though that does not matter.”

“It doesn’t?”

Deep ocean-blue eyes met mine. “The nature of the realm won’t allow anyone to try. Beelzebub’s entire forging allows only for his own pattern exclusively. In essence, it is deliberately self-destructing.”

Pulling over a chair, I dropped onto it. “So what can we do?”

“Can you repair it?”

“What? How?”

A voice came from behind. “Reforge the structure entire.”

Turning, I looked up to the stern face of an angel dressed for either a corporate boardroom or a high-level mobster’s soiree. “It isn’t that easy, Abagor.”

“You alone have the capacity.”

“Tell me, did Lucifer make a realm of his own when he was here?”

“He did not.”

“Ever wonder why?”

“Often.”

Cassiel’s quick mind caught on. “He always planned on leaving. As does she.”

“Bingo,” I said, holding up a single index finger. “Got it in one.”

In a tone holding no condemnation, only curiosity, Abagor asked, “Would you sacrifice so many for your freedom?”

The damaged planet slowly rotated before us, the dotted lights of its cities twinkling and going dark one by one.

“No,” I sighed. “But with my aid there may be another possibility.”

Wings touched by rainbows twitched upon Cassiel’s back, and blond locks fell again over a cheek. “Which is?”

“First we do a boatload of accelerated research and prep.” Without thinking, my hand reached out to brush away those bangs.

This time he let me, and didn’t flinch away. “And then?”

With a palm resting gently against that cheek, I answered. “Then we ask someone for an incredible gift.”

 

~o~O~o~

 

Two stars - one twinkling bright with a full-spectrum’s white, and the other shimmering purest of sapphire - floated in the darkness beyond the borders of a broken and fraying realm.

“This is gonna be tricky. Never done it with a whole population already in residence.”

“Through you I’ll hold them together while you get everything else in place.”

“You sure you’re up to that? All things considered.”

“He died to save them, I have to be. Did you finalize the blueprint?”

“You bet. That Cassiel fellow worked out the last parameters with those extra details you got from the Book. Kid is sharp, could give Uriel a run for his money.”

“Cass isn’t really a kid.”

“P’shaw, all Grigori are children to us ancient and retired smiths.”

“Dare I ask what you think then of me?”

“You, ma’am, are nothin’ less than an inspiring and absolutely adorable newborn. Thankfully, ya don’ need diapers, never enjoyed that part.”

“Not so sure about that. You basically gave me those when we first met.”

“Nah, I just asked questions.”

“They were good questions.”

“You had good answers.”

“I hate asking you for this. You can still say no - it will tie you down here. Possibly forever.”

“Needs doin’. Just promise me something?”

“Name it.”

“We do this, it’s gonna push against the Gate somethin’ fierce. Yours and mine resonances ain’t made for these levels, nor is the design y’all came up with.”

“Crap. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“The way I figure - and that smart kid agrees - it’ll constantly strain what we’re gonna forge regardless. All we’re accomplishing is buying some time, you understand?”

“You need me to come back at regular intervals to help patch it back up?”

“Nope, aiming for a larger ask than that.”

“My friend, anything for you.”

“Then fix it.”

“Fix what? The Gate?”

“Everything. Fix it all.”

“That’s…a tall order.”

“Ms. Claus says I’ve been good. She even let me put the topper on the tree.”

“Nathanael, you’ve been and are the best. I’ll do all I can.”

“I reckon that’s a sight more’n you realize. Good enough for me.”

“We all set then?”

“When you are, ma’am.”

“In that case…hmm. I was about to say something awfully cliché.”

“If it’s what I’m thinkin’, I’d be sorely disappointed now if you didn’t.”

“Oh. Then just for you…’Let There Be Light!’”

And there was Light.

 

~o~O~o~

 

When the others arrived, bare toes were peeking out from simple lavender cloth to sink into the wet from the receding tide. A breeze cooled by ocean waters brushed past to join winds blowing across empty sand and lava-smoothed stone, all freshly condensed across the surface from the powerful pressures settling far below. Over a cloudless horizon the glow of approaching dawn stretched fingers to slowly wash away a twilight full of twinkling stars much closer than any observed from Earth, while a full and silver moon dipped opposite to slip below the churning seas.

A moon whose bright spots and shadows hinted the dark silhouette of a bird blended seamless with slender forest feline.

Upon wings of varied colors and shapes they came, some stoic and reserved, others gazing about in wonder and excited trepidation. Including one huddled within a brown coat, who had angrily immediately pushed away from the black and gold armored arms that had carried him, standing now apart and wingless upon the unblemished sand.

To him and the rest, I spoke.

“Thank you for coming.”

“It’s not like I had a choice,” said the man in the coat as he glowered. “And he wouldn’t even say why. Where are we? I don’t recognize it.”

Another answered him. “That’s because it is new.” Floating out from the crowd of hovering angels, the rising wind carried blond hairs free from Cassiel’s boyish cheeks as he turned to face them all. “Brothers, sisters, I have asked you here as the Lady Amariel wishes to speak to us - and to make an offer. One unprecedented in all our history.”

Hundreds of eyes refocused their attention.

Lowering into a crouch, long reddish-gold hair fell braidless from one side to sweep across the sand through whose damp grains my fingers then slid. “You know who I am - and who I was. You may blame me for much, blame the Powers or the Host, or blame yourselves. But today, I care nothing for blame.”

The crowd remained silent, other than the soft sounds of a field of feathers rustling against the breeze.

“Instead, I care for their future,” I said, pointing upwards to the multitude of stars preparing to hide themselves from the glare of the incoming day. “Theirs, and yours.”

Nick’s head tilted back, and he gasped. “Souls. Those are souls. How…?”

I let Cassiel answer.

“These,” he said, gesturing with arms enfolded by wide sleeves hanging from a golden robe, “once were lost to Beelzebub. And now are free - cleansed of all recorded experience, but free. As pure as any sparks newly forged from the Light to join in that blessed union of spirit and flesh.”

While the others glanced between themselves and the sky, Nick spluttered. “Good grief, Amariel. What have you done?!”

Brushing at wet sand stubbornly sticking to fingers, I stood. “We created them a place. But we need help. From all of you, you few chosen by Cassiel, you few of the thousands of your order banished to these realms of torment and pain.” Moving to Cassiel’s side, toes reached drier ground, cold yet firm. “The pattern here is a limited imitation of the physical, as best as can be done within these levels where spirit and solidity blur together in rules more fluid than fixed. But it could become much more, the potentials are there - and therein lies our plea.”

Turiel, folding wings of dripping lava, placed palm against the ground. “This realm, its firmament echoes Earth. Vast ocean, tectonics,” he said, before looking again at sky and also moon. “And tidal pull.”

I nodded. “With the necessary components, simplified as some may be.”

Beginning to understand, Nick paled. “You cannot be serious.”

“But I am,” I said softly. “They deserve a fresh start. As do all of you. And with your brave efforts, we hope that more may dare to again feel and embrace the Light that was lost.”

In the middle of the crowd, Yomyael - with pain and longing stretching towards the rising dawn - dropped to her knees. “No!! Don’t tempt…don’t curse us with this again! To watch, to love, and for all that they are to be only etched within and then reset!”

Cassiel placed hands behind his back. “We still stand in the realms beyond death, any resets would be by external force. Or by choice to renew again.”

Gazing daggers over an armless shoulder, her anger flashed. “Don’t lie! I see the patterns of birth woven in!! One implies the other!”

“Only for flora and fauna,” he said, unperturbed. “As on other realms.”

“It’s more than that,” she snarled. “There’s intent here for such to touch the souls as well!”

“Births, yes,” I agreed. “For other than the first few who shall begin, those who will be in greatest need of initial guidance. The remaining stars above are to be born from love - or lust - as children. They will need to build civilizations, to learn and grow, as our intention is to start small. And, as elsewhere in Hell, death by old age cannot for souls here occur. At least, not unless they wish it. We lay but a foundation; where they take it will be up to them and their inner sparks.”

Another Grigori in the crowd, a tall yet lanky willow of a figure, spoke up. “And how are we to avoid the mistakes of the past? Cassiel may have selected us, but we too are damned to darkness, condemned to never again stand in the Presence!”

“Teach,” I said. “Guide. But do not interfere. Your Names, tarnished and encrusted as they are now, will require great effort to polish and restore - but this can be accomplished. Nathanael shines above, for his heart carries mine as a gift to all who dare try - and through him may much be rekindled.”

I paused to give them a moment for this to register, then continued. “Without the Light, we angels go astray. Here - fulfilling your deepest Purposes, fulfilling that for which you were created - you may reach those heights again. We will not force this, we only ask and offer - that you may come to shine your true selves once more.”

Yomyael bowed head, her solitary hand clutching at the stump where the other arm should have been. “And if it’s too much?! Will you cut us down??”

Cassiel knelt besides her. “If it is, then join me again in Dis.”

Nick frowned. “Aren’t you forgetting something? This is Hell. If we don’t meddle, demons will overrun.”

“They will not.” Camael, who had stood still and silent since arriving, now stepped forward. “No portals shall take root upon this soil. By my Name is this realm sealed, and Nathanael alone holds the key.”

Many in the crowd flinched, but they took him at his word.

Nick, however, looked around. “And where is Nathanael?! If he’s the progenitor of this realm, shouldn’t he address us?”

Scanning beyond these heavens, I answered. “He works to harness the current fluctuations and loop the localized fabric of time, to allow for what needs be done - to allow for what we hope to be.”

“That’s a neat trick.”

“A certain book showed how.”

The angel pretending to be less shoved hands into deep pockets. “Then I know why you dragged me here. It’s no good. I can’t do it.”

“You’re the only one who can.”

“I can’t.”

“For this realm to truly be theirs, to flow with the magic of their lives and existence, it’s the only way.” I breathed in the vista of empty sand and sea. “This needs a foundation of spirit moving through solid elements nurtured and not forced. Else it be but pictures projected rapidly upon a screen.”

“I’ll just fuck it up.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“After everything…how can you not?”

“Because you won’t be doing this alone.” I looked to Cassiel, who stood and stepped over to put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“We all erred,” said Cassiel. “I most of all.”

“You’re not even him,” muttered Nick, turning from his brother’s gaze to instead stare down at his feet.

“I am what he became.”

A beaten leather shoe nudged the sand, leaving a half-broken footprint. “I have no wings upon which to fly.”

“Then,” said Cassiel, “until yours are healed, you may borrow mine.”

Spreading feathers touched by rainbows, Cassiel rose from the beach. And by his extended will, did he also lift up his brother.

Inhaling deep, an anxious floating angel looked to me with eyes swirling with cloudy grey. “What if I fail?”

I smiled. “With our help, Barakiel of the Grigori, you keep trying. Be stubborn towards success. For these souls - and for yourself.”

Searching above the ocean to where wisps of white lent their dots along the dawning sky, he hesitated.

And then, after a delay which caused heart to worry if we truly had asked too much, he finally nodded.

Without further discussion, the two sped into that sky. Far above, hovering as the brightest star in the local tapestry, Nathanael let time slip forward so that the yellow sun’s even brighter rise increased its pace, and the distant specks of cotton across that blue canvas billowed with growth, filling with moisture to tower over the sea as tremendous fronts of gray and black.

Between the folds of the mountains of now-heavy storm the first flickers began to arc, and a low rumble reached our ears - carried by a wind whistling itself into a frenzy. Each bright pulse fizzled before reaching dirt or ocean, but after a pause would strobe again. And again.

And again.

As the emerging typhoon’s unleashed downpour swallowed the sun, thick sheets of blinding lightning struck all around, hitting shore and hitting sea. Day and night accelerated under time’s command, sun and moon spinning faster behind the thunderous torrents, and shadows found themselves banished entire by the continuous display flashing that brilliance from horizon to horizon, all to connect ground to sky - and more.

Across this world, the dance of Life could now begin.

 

 

New chapters posted every Monday and Friday. If you're enjoying the story, let me know in the comments below! Thanks!

- Erisian