In Rebellion (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book II) Page 2

  “Yes, they don't really have any survival skills, do they?” Jarahmael asked. “Living in Eden all their lives, they had everything they needed within arms-reach and in forms that could readily be used. We know after chasing Luciferael's dinosaurs that life on Earth can be very dangerous and it takes a lot of work to survive.”

  “Sounds as though they don’t have much of a chance of surviving outside the Garden of Eden. It would be a shame if the Almighty's experiment with Humans totally failed,” Michael said. “Although Jarahmael, you have one of the Humans up in your palace in the Seventh Heaven, that could survive.”

  “Yes,” nodded Jarahmael.

  “How fortunate you and Lillith are,” said Michael.

  “Yes, we are,” said Jarahmael as he thought of Lillith, back at his palace. “The Almighty’s death sentence passed upon Adam and Eve would not destroy Lillith. Lillith did not break the Almighty's commandment, so she was and will remain immortal.”

  The two Archangels and the Cherubim then flew off to the area of caves not far from the pyramid to see if they could find the two Humans. They located the cave where Gabriel and Uriel had placed some of the things the Almighty provided to them to survive from the night before. The Earth was much larger than the Garden of Eden, and it was proving difficult for the Angels to locate them. Even after looking deep within the cave and in the surrounding area they still could not find the Humans.

  “The Humans are probably around here somewhere and we still have plenty of daylight left to find them. Why don't we check on the work our fellow Angels are doing to complete and seal off the rest of the pyramids here on Earth?” offered Cerebriel. “The Almighty sent out most of the Angels from the Heavens to the pyramids to seal the portals off quickly. Besides, it won’t be hard to pass this way again, on our way back into the Heavens.”

  Michael and Jarahmael nodded their agreement to Cerebriel’s plan. The three Angels flew back to the pyramid and landed within its halls, Cerebriel leading the way.

  “Next stop, the pyramid in Medius!” Cerebriel announced as Michael and Jarahmael followed him down one of the passageways to a portal.

  Chapter 2

  THE REBEL ANGELS

  A few hours after the morning ceremony, Luciferael arrived at the Hall of the Virtues, flying in directly without making his usual grand entrance. The Hall was filled, one third of the Angels of Heaven having dropped whatever they were doing to come and hear him. His bright magnificence still kept the focus on him as he entered and then walked through the center of the Hall, the other Angels murmuring along the seats on either side. Sammuael, Mephistophael and Beelzebael had done their assignment well. Luciferael had asked them to assemble all of the Angels loyal to him together to prepare for war, and now they were here, waiting for him.

  Sammuael and the other six Archangels of Luciferael's Auxilium were in position at a raised dais at the back end of the Hall. The murmurs turned to silence as Luciferael walked past the ranks of the Angels. All Orders of Angels were present except for the Thrones and the Seraphim, as they never left the side of the Almighty. There was a heavy tension in the air, as the Angels sensed something monumental was going to occur. No one had ever addressed a gathering of Angels this size outside the Throne Room in the Seventh Heaven. Looking around at each other, these Angels recognized that they were all unhappy with developments in Heaven and with the Humans. Others, particularly the six Archangels of the Auxilium, had become fiercely loyal to Luciferael and saw him as equal to the Almighty.

  Taking his position among his other Archangels, Luciferael spread and flexed his wings for effect, then retracted them as he began to speak.

  “Good afternoon, my fellow Beings of Light! I am glad that you have all come, and I am flattered that you trust me enough to meet me in this Hall. I may not have had time to speak with each and every one of you individually, but I always known that you support me fully when I have conducted the morning ceremonies in the Throne Room of the Seventh Heaven.

  “We have come to a different time in the Heavens. Things have been changing since our creation. Change is a two-edged sword; it is necessary to move the Creation forward, but we also must preserve the best of the past. We haven’t discussed these things in depth as we are all very grateful to the Almighty for our own creation and the Heavens in which we live. The outside Universe has continued to expand under the Almighty’s plan, but as I have increasingly realized, some of those developments threaten our own stature in the Heavens and the Universe itself.”

  Luciferael paused, listening for the effect of his words upon the audience. There was a silence that remained when he stopped. This was blasphemous for anyone to say about the Almighty. No Angel had ever publicly questioned the Almighty's wisdom, guidance or plan!

  “I know what I am saying is disturbing. We were all created to serve the Almighty in any and all directions He would choose. But times have changed. For one, the Almighty spends less and less time with us in the Heavens.”

  A murmur went through the assembly as they acknowledged what he had said to be true. Encouraged, Luciferael continued.

  “So the burden of the continuing Creation, the things that need to be done to fill in the overall Creation has fallen to us. Much of it is now being accomplished without the guidance of the Almighty. And yet, on the other hand, the Almighty has created others, tried new experiments that affect all of us, without discussing any of it with us, His co-creators!”

  The murmuring filled in the silence as he paused again.

  “We may all find that acceptable as part of our existence. . .”

  The Assembly nodded in approval.

  “But we have not been consulted!” Luciferael emphasized, then continued. “As you know, I was instructed by the Almighty to create Beings filled with life on the surface of the planet Earth. Those beings lived in splendor for many days. In fact, I was congratulated by the Almighty when I created those Beings. Then came changes!”

  Luciferael moved forward, closer to his audience in the Hall, his voice becoming more intimate. “The Almighty decided to create other Beings, warm-blooded creatures that lived among the dinosaurs and reptiles on the Earth and the Almighty claimed that they were an improvement on my magnificent creatures. These were warm blooded and in a form similar to ours, but without the wings and without our intelligence. He let them run upon the Earth and there was a balance between the dinosaurs and the new things called Simians. And they lived together for many days.

  “Then, not long ago we were told by the Almighty that things had changed and that the dinosaurs had outlived their purpose, that they needed to be destroyed, and that they were interfering with the development of these Simians.

  “And believing that the dinosaurs and these Simians were living in a state of balance upon the Earth, it was of little concern to me or my close Archangels here. One set of non-thinking creatures over another set of small minded creatures on that small planet did not matter much. We, as Archangels, too, were still focused on expanding the Heavens and finely adding to our kingdoms here. And the Almighty began to be more and more absent from us.”

  Luciferael again paused for effect.

  “Well, my fellow Beings of Light, this was not the truth of the matter!”

  The assembly stayed silent again. They had never imagined they would hear the Prince of Heaven call the Almighty untruthful.

  “We all believed the Almighty was absent creating other Universes. But, what I and my Auxilium have discovered was that He created a special place between the First Heaven and the Earth, a place called Eden. And that place, the Garden of Eden, was created by the Almighty with a deceitful purpose. Some of you have been constructing a system of stone structures called pyramids in Eden and on various continents on the Earth itself. But what most of you did not know, that system was to allow these new warm-blooded creatures from the Garden of Eden to take over and rule the planet.”

  Luciferael moved forward again and raised his voice. “And this despite
the Almighty having placed us, the Beings of Light, in charge of that planet when we first put life on it!”

  He then stood back and spoke more softly again.

  “My colleague lord Sammuael has spoken to the Principalities, Dominions and Cherubim involved. They believed the structures to be used as temples and records in celebration of the Creation. Only a chosen few of your leaders knew of another purpose for these structures and they have been sworn to secrecy. It has only been recently discovered that special powers exist within those structures. When questioned by my colleague the Archangel Sammuael, most of the Angels working on these projects did not know of the other purposes.”

  A growing murmur returned to the Hall. The Angels had never heard of secrets being kept one Angel from another.

  “And in the past few days more evidence of secret activity has been revealed. That place we all thought that was just another version of Earth, the one placed in between the First Heaven and the surface of the Earth? It is a place of the utmost treachery to the supremacy of the Beings of Light and our own existence. For within its walled garden, the Almighty’s new experiment, the Humans, a race of Beings that can think for themselves, have been given ‘free will’ to choose. A power that the Almighty has never told us that we had or could exercise!”

  The murmuring grew into a growl throughout the Hall.

  “My colleagues and I were given a half-explanation by the Almighty about these creatures. He told us of 'free will.' And my Auxilium took it upon ourselves to discuss the dangers of providing such simple creatures with powers greater than the Angels themselves. We made a deal with the Almighty. That deal insured all of your safety and supremacy as we were sure these new Humans could never handle a power equal or greater than what the Angels possessed.”

  The Angels nodded in approval that Luciferael had stood up for them.

  “The arrangement guaranteed that these Humans be tested before they were allowed to expand. Before these Humans are allowed to expand and populate the whole Earth.”

  Again there was a growl through the crowd.

  “And that test was to present a real choice for the Humans in Eden, one to test their ability to follow a simple commandment of the Almighty, one commandment and one commandment only. And that commandment was the prohibition to eat of the fruit of just one tree in a Garden overflowing with other innumerable varieties of food, plant life and fruits.

  “I took the risk of confronting the Almighty, not in a vacuum or based solely on a theory that these Humans may fail, but based upon evidence that these Humans had already failed. The Almighty first created what he called a Man and a Woman. He created the two of them as equals, the Almighty believed that they would get along, prosper and reproduce. But the Almighty was wrong!

  “That woman, the first woman named Lillith, could not get along with the man, who was named Adam. They could not even procreate properly, a problem we have never seen with the simpler Simians on the planet below, I might add. Lillith exercised her own free will, her own ideas of what should happen, and she ran away from Adam. She had nowhere to go. But she discovered she could use the pyramid in Eden to hide in and then ultimately escape to the planet below.”

  The growl in the audience grew even louder as none of these Angels had even heard of all of these details. How could they be one with the mind of the Almighty with all of these secrets?

  “The Almighty did not want any of you to know of this. He kept this information to Himself and only told us, the Archangels, as we attempted to find her. And even some of us, myself included, were kept in the dark about all the details as the Almighty only told the Archangel Michael and some of his cohort of Angels about these creatures.

  “In continuing with this folly, the Almighty tried again. This time He created another Human woman, this time from Adam's body. So you can see, my fellow Angels, that there has been much going on that has not been shared with you. And I apologize about not coming to you sooner with this information, but I too have been in shock that the Almighty would do this!

  “I believe that we are at a decision point. The Almighty had agreed that if Adam and his new female, named Eve, could not follow instructions that they should be destroyed similar to how we destroyed the dinosaurs. Just another failed experiment in the overall creation to be remembered as a lesson.

  “But, although the Almighty made that agreement, when Adam and Eve violated that one rule, that one simple commandment, He did not immediately destroy these two Beings, abominations that were given a power greater than the Angels!

  “No, my fellow Angels, He allowed them to live, gave them the whole Earth to populate if and until such time that they die on that planet. A date uncertain, and with the recent series of events and broken promises of the Almighty, I suggest this may be an event that will never happen. Those Human creatures were given the best of both our worlds. They were specially placed between the Heavens and the Earth. To create whatever they felt like, not given work assignments such as we are given.

  “Now you may ask, what are we going to do about this? We have already been patient with the Almighty and explained our grievances to Him. But they have been ignored, and where strong measures were called for, the Almighty provided a weak response. Why, you may ask, did he not simply destroy these Beings? I can tell you why. He has decided that they are the future and that we Angels, as perfect as we may be, do not move the Creation forward in a way He believes that these Humans can. I and my Auxilium believe that the Almighty loves those Humans more than He loves us. And if we do not deal with this problem today, there will come a day where we will be assigned again to protect these Humans, provide them guidance and be subservient to them!

  “So what I say to all of you today is that we have a list of grievances that will never be addressed by the Almighty. First, we have been kept in dark when we should have had the opportunity to assist the Almighty in this, the most important of His creations next to ourselves. Second, we have been lied to by the Almighty as He has had some of our Angels not fully disclose what was occurring on Earth, the First Heaven and Eden. Third, the Almighty has been turning Angel against Angel through this treachery; He provides information to one set of Angels and keeps it hidden from another. Fourth, the Almighty has betrayed us by giving these new Humans, creatures made out of mud, by the way, powers greater than us, the Beings of Light, the Angels, the First Born of the Heavens. Fifth, the Almighty has not complied with His own agreement with us about destroying these dangerous mud creatures. And sixth, the Almighty intends to make us servants to these creatures, Beings far below us in intellectual ability and powers.

  “What I propose to all of you, is to change things back to the way they had been before these events. Days when we, the Beings of Light, were the supreme beings in the Universe. Days when we could do whatever we wanted to do, not being at risk with these changes to the Universe that are resulting in failures and deception.

  “We can only change things back by taking over the Heavens and ensuring its supremacy over the rest of the creation and making it a home safe and secure forever for our own kind!”

  There was clamoring within the Hall as all this information was sinking into the consciousness of the Angels.

  After a few moments, the assembly settled back down, and Luciferael continued.

  “Let me ask you this, my fellow Angels. Have I ever lied to you?”

  There was a resounding “No!” from the assembly.

  “Have I always done what was asked of me in my role as Prince of the Heavens?”

  The crowd yelled, “Yes!”

  “Have I ever done anything that you felt would be harmful to any of you?”

  Again there was a resounding “No!”

  “Have I always had your best interests at heart?”

  “Yes!”

  “Now some may say that we owe total allegiance to the Almighty as He created all of us. But what I say to you is that I was the one who actually breathed life into all of you, my bre
thren seated here today, and to those other Archangels who are not here. They in turn, worked with me in giving each and every one of you the gift of life. I know how to create life. I know how to create things necessary in our Universe!”

  Sammuael stood up and the other Archangels of the Auxilium followed his lead. Now standing, Sammuael yelled out, “Who can lead us?”

  The other Archangels began to chant, “Luciferael, Luciferael!” And the rest of the assembly joined in.

  “Will you join in me and fight to restore the Heavens back to their rightful place?” Luciferael called out.

  The crowd roared back, “Yes!”

  “Will you join me in keeping the Almighty out of the Heavens and the Universe?”

  “Yes!”

  “Will you join me in throwing out any of the other Angels who do not join us?”

  “Yes!” The crowd yelled back once again.

  “Let it be noted in the history of the Heavens and the Universe that on this day, the mighty Angels, the Beings of Light stood up for themselves and began the rebellion to restore the Heavens to their rightful glory!”

  His speech over, Luciferael began giving orders to prepare to go to war.

  “I want all of the leaders of the Orders of Angels to come forward and meet with me. Lord Damiel and lord Suriel, make sure that all of the Angels are provided weapons, the ones we used to destroy the dinosaurs. We shall gather outside the Hall in an hour, ready for battle.”