Testament of An Archangel

Chapter 4 Part 1

(Author note: For future reference, I'll be posting my chapters in shorter chunks. It dawned on me that reading a 12 page chapter on a mobile device isn't that easy. So here you go.) 

Chapter 4

Silence filled the meadow, nothing moved, not even a leaf. It seemed as if time itself had simply stopped with Elohim's departure. Even to this day, I remember my brother's faces at that exact moment. Lucifer's aura shimmering in protective rage as he hovered over Lillith. Michael staring at him, such a look Michael had. It seemed to me that armor was slowly appearing on Michael's body, golden armor that encased his heart, locking it away from Lucifer and the rest of us. Seraqual, Raquel were just utterly lost and confused, Raphael kept looking between Lucifer and Michael, indecision and regret simmering on his face. Dearest Gabriel had glistening blue tears streaming down his face, of all of us Uriel seemed to be the most calm, his face was still. I could see him running calculations and possible outcomes in his mind.

“She will not be compelled to be with any mate he makes.” Lucifer spoke and something in his voice compelled us to listen. The velvet tones, singeing us with his rage and his love made it impossible for us to be aware of anything else. “I will not be compelled to subjugate myself or my skills to him ever again. Life will flourish with or without our guidance. Elohim will soon find that he too is powerless, love and respect cannot be forced upon creation. The balance will not tolerate that and it will destroy this world and any other he despoils with his madness.” Carefully he gathered Lillith's sleeping, fragile form into his arms. “Brothers, I love you, love this world and will continue to strive to keep things in balance. You all must choose your paths. This is mine.” Glistening, fierce gold eyes held us captive in that moment. Light encompassing the intensity of all the sunsets and sunrises that had happened since we first awakened to our task surrounded him, forcing us to avert our eyes, barely diminishing his glory. Suddenly he was gone and it seemed like the absence of his light plunged us into complete darkness.

As our eyes slowly adjusted to his departure Uriel's pensive voice came to us out of the darkness. “They both have a point.”

“How can you say that?” Michael challenged him.

“Elohim is correct that we need his power to create life,” Uriel explained. “Lucifer is correct that life will evolve and continue without us. Think Michael. There are many worlds we have not gone to for eons yet life still thrives there. I know, I check on them every now and again, just to make sure we haven't missed something. Lucifer is also accurate in saying that this idea of compelling respect from a creation will throw things far out of balance.”

“Are you saying we aren't truly needed brother?” Raguel asked. Uriel merely shrugged.

“This is ludicrous!” Michael protested. “We must create life, we have to get Elohim to come back and help.”

Seraqual slowly sunk back to the ground after Lucifer's departure, his aura dimming to the point that it was non-existent. My brother appeared so fragile at that moment, his movements deliberate and cautious. “How do you propose to do that?” He asked, his head finishing the slow, methodical journey to the ground. Finally reaching a recumbent position, Seraqual closed his eyes, small quivers and shudders began to run through him. “What just happened? I don't understand.”

Gabriel joined Seraqual on the ground, placing his hand on Seraqual's head. Tears were still working their way down Gabriel's face. “I think Lucifer and Elohim have chosen to challenge each other. We have to find a way to get them to stop.”

“How Gabriel? How? They are both monumentally stubborn.” Seraqual said.

Raphael spoke up, “Elohim wants that creation Lucifer is attached to. We can take it to him, Lucifer doesn't have any more right to tell us what to do with creations than Elohim.”

“Neither of them have rights to any creation.” I had to point out. “She is not a thing to be fought over or thrown between the two of them!”

“Remiel, that's all well and good but the point remains that they both see her as something that belongs to them,” Uriel countered, he started pacing, small waves of green light trailing behind him. “No, this creation isn't the problem, they are the problem. If we give her to Elohim, Lucifer will only come after her and us. Killing her serves no purpose either, Elohim has already stated that he is making more and it will only enrage Lucifer farther if she is destroyed. We must make them come to some sort of accommodation in which Lucifer gets to keep her and Elohim gets his worshippers or whatever they are to be called. We must keep them from truly confronting each other.”

Michael stepped in front of Uriel, stopping his pacing. “That is pointless. Lucifer seems to think that nothing should be forced to show respect, he will try to thwart Elohim again.”

“You heard Lucifer,” Uriel responded. “He still wants to maintain the balance. He has his creation and Elohim will have what he wants. That's as closed to balanced as can be achieved for now. Perhaps after some time passes they will both come to their senses. There is no other option left to us. While life can flourish without us, we still have things we should be doing. I will approach both of them with this idea. All of you are too upset to do it correctly.” He vanished.

Michael stood there, clenching his right hand into a fist. Bronze and gold curtains of light rippled around him, encasing him in living fire. “Uriel is a fool. This will only end when one of them surrenders to the other. Heed me brothers, soon you will have to choose between them.” Howling wind ripped through the trees and the living fire that surrounded Michael stopped moving, appearing solid for the briefest of moments before he took his leave of us.

Raguel, Raphael, Gabriel, Seraqual and myself were struck mute and frozen at that point. We had no real idea of what to do or even think, afraid to lay our feet on either path or in any direction. Violence, anger, hate and confusion seemed to surround us and as much as I hate to admit it, we stood there like children in need of guidance. We were so innocent and naive then, we didn't even know how to hurt each other or fight. All we knew was how to create, not destroy.