Wings: Pain in The Offering

Introduction

This is the second short story in my angelic fiction series Wings. And now, without further ado...

Ezekijah and Miriam walked into the briefing room. The Principality who stood with his back to them at the head of the room in front of a monitor did not turn around, but said “At ease.” They sat down on two of the 7 or so chairs in the room.

The Principality turned around, glowing faintly. On the monitor was a virtual globe. He turned, pointing to a spot on the miniature earth. It zoomed in to a small Middle Eastern country. The Principality turned back to them. “The Lord has ordered that revival be brought to this country. There is only one church there, and they are discouraged and weakening. Go to the church, set them on fire with zeal for the Maker once more, and plant the seeds in the hearts of the unbelievers.”

Ezekijah reached out, but the church was not generating enough Spiritual Energy for him to appear even as a vision. “Sir,” he asked, raising his hand, “How will we get there?”

The Principality merely looked back at them and said, “There is a Celestial Cruiser, the Sword of The Cherubim, leaving Heaven at noon, Celestial Time. You will board it. When it passes over this area”, he said, gesturing to the center of the country, “that will be your stop. Any questions? No? Good. Dismissed.” They stepped out the door. Miriam glanced at her watch. “Whoa! It’s almost noon. We’d better get going.”

As the two young angels hustled down the streets of heaven toward the Dry Docks, they passed many angels doing various tasks. There were Keepers, mostly Cherubim, appearing and disappearing, Avengers manifesting and returning, Instructors teaching young trainees the ways of war. Finally, after what seemed like an age, the two Messengers reached the Dry Docks. There sat a huge assortment of Celestial Cruisers. The Sword of the Cherubim, however, immediately caught one’s eye. It was a long silvery ship in a shape approximating a sword. It was light and fast, and Ezekijah knew it by reputation as being second in maneuverability only to the Maker’s flagship, the IT IS.

As the young angels walked toward the ramp leading into the cruiser’s deck, they saw many Cherubim, fierce warriors of heaven, arrayed in military discipline. The young Power felt out of place here. He was in the presence of senior Cherubim. These fierce soldiers had been instrumental in casting Lucifer and his Warband out of Heaven.

At the head of the formation, between two rows of warriors, stood the tallest Cherub of the lot, obviously the captain of the ship. He spoke first. “What is your business here, junior Messengers?”

Ezekijah stepped forward and replied, “We are on a mission of revival. We were told the Sword would pass over our target country.”

The captain’s man-face showed a look of surprise, then he said, “Oh, you are the Messengers we were waiting for. Welcome aboard.”

The two young angels stepped aboard the Sword. The captain was clearly all business. “Ten-SHUN!”, he yelled. The other Cherubim snapped to attention and the young messengers did the best they could, but since Gabriel was never this formal, they really did not know what they were doing. The captain seemed to understand this, as he probably knew Gabriel, and passed over them. “At ease. To your stations, all the crew. As for the messengers, you probably need to prepare. The armory is on the bottom deck, and the infantry jump point is on the top.”

The Sword was vastly different from the cruiser they had visited in the simulator on their first day as messengers. That cruiser had had personal transport bays in the same area as the infantry drop point. But this was a Sword-Model cruiser, old but sturdy, and still very fast maneuverable. The weapons, however, were slightly dated.

As the two young angels walked down the hall to the armory, they were continually impressed with the spotless condition of the ship. Cherubim were constantly at work, polishing the bulwarks, inspecting the cannons, keeping watch for a potential attack. As Ezekijah and Miriam reached the door to the armory, the ship shook and rocked. The young messengers heard the sound of Infernal Cannons.

CRACK! THUMP! The ship began to crash around, and the two angels were thrown against the wall. Miriam fell down, and Ezekijah could barely keep his footing. She stood up. A Cherub ran down the stairs. “Messengers! Get into the armory! Take swords and wingsurfs and go!” He rushed them into the armory, then removed his own sword from his belt. They found wingsurfs, which looked like surfboards with small pairs of wings at the front and back. They also each picked up a sword. Miriam chose a very Rennaissance-ish looking weapon, while Ezekijah picked up a leaf-bladed sword akin to that used by the ancient Greeks.

They stepped out of the armory. The cherub told them to get to the emergency exit. It was not far, and they quickly locked their feet into the wingsurfs and dropped out the hatch in the floor.

What they saw was not what they had expected. Hundreds of demons battled dozens of Cherubim in a titanic air struggle. The cruisers’ direct combat abilities were not neglected either. Divine and Infernal energy blasted through the air. Apparently the ship was surrounded. As they dropped through the air, attempting to get their wingsurfs under them, the fireballs flew and the flameswords flashed. Occasionally there would be a burst of light or darkness as an angel or a demon was defeated and forced out of the physical realm.

The two messengers escaped most of the battle, although Ezekijah did dispatch a fallen spirit by the name of Ichabod about halfway down.

When they had dropped below the battle, Ezekijah and Miriam found themselves in a large desert. There was nothing but blank white sand nearly as far as the eye could see, and Ezekijah despaired of ever finding the country they were looking for. He said as much to Miriam, who, lost in thought, did not answer for a moment, then simply replied, “The Lord always makes a way.”

Ezekijah looked at her for a moment, then said, “What is it?”

“I was just wondering,” she replied, “what the demons were after. Am I to believe that our outnumbered enemy made that big of an attack for no particular reason? They must have been after something in particular.” Ezekijah, feeling like the practical one all of a sudden, said, “Well, I don’t know. But the important thing for us now is the mission of revival. Now if we could just find this country.”

Miriam flew high into the air on her wingsurf, but was also careful to fly far forward, too, to avoid the battle. She got to about 300 feet, then looked down at him. “Aren’t you coming?”

Ezekijah rose in to the air, looking slightly confused. He asked her, “Why are we up here?” “Silly! It’s the best way to see what’s around us.” And see they did. They could see, off in the north, somewhere near the horizon, what appeared to be a human settlement resembling the country they were looking for, but what really caught Ezekijah’s eye was the crashed Celestial Cruiser, of Infernal design, that lay a few miles to the west.

He pointed it out to Miriam. She replied, “Hmm. It appears to have been abandoned for millennia.” “Well? Let’s check it out.” , said Ezekijah. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”, replied Miriam. “You said yourself it’s been abandoned for millennia. Let’s go.” “I don’t think so.”, replied the wiser Angel. “Look, I’m going. You probably don’t want to be out in the desert alone, so you’d better come with me.”, said the overly curious young Power.

And so, against Miriam’s better judgment, two young Messengers raced across the sands of a desert on earth toward a crashed celestial cruiser. When they arrived at the crash site, they saw that the ship was, in fact, broken into two halves. They were ripped and crunched jaggedly down the middle, and each opened diagonally skyward and toward the other. Ezekijah raced forward and Miriam followed hesitantly. Ezekijah turned right, toward the bow of the ship, and was amazed to find the electronics still working. It took an angel aboard to power celestial electronics, so to find a ship that had been abandoned for millennia with its electronics still running was quite unheard-of. Ezekijah pondered this for a moment, then heard Miriam gasp. He looked at her, then up at the monitors and realized what had caught her attention. Lying chained to four enormous pillars was a gigantic angel whose golden armor was inscribed with protective glyphs, and whose sword lay tantalizingly out of reach.

Miriam gasped, “Samyaza!” Ezekijah looked quizzical. “Who?” “Samyaza”, Miriam responded, “What, you’ve never heard of Samyaza?” Ezekijah simply said, “Um..no.” Miriam sighed. “Honestly. Samyaza was the leader of the Grigori, bound to four pillars by the 777th Guardian Legion.” Ezekijah answered simply, “Griwhaty?” Miriam sighed yet again. “The Grigori. Created to guard the portals to Limbo, they fell due to their lust for human women. They left their stations and took mortal wives. The Lord could scarcely contain his fury, and to punish them, forbade them to enter the Spiritual Realm ever again, meaning that any of them who were defeated here went straight to Limbo and could not return till Judgment Day. This essentially mortalized them. But they made the best of it, wallowing in the pleasures of the flesh.”

“And then?” “The Maker flooded the earth, wiping out most of the humans whom the Grigori had corrupted. He then sent the 777th Guardian Legion to hunt them down. They all fled, save for Samyaza. It took all the warriors of the 777th, including their leader, Mazarin himself, to defeat Samyaza. His punishment? To stay here, chained to four pillars until Judgment Day.”

Ezekijah looked at her and said, “Fascinating. Wonder why I never heard that story.” “You never read.” Ezekijah looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “C’mon, let’s go see up close.” Miriam looked at him blankly. “You’re kidding, right?” Ezekijah did not look back, but simply responded “Nope.” “Ezekijah, you can’t do this.” “Watch me. Come on, Miriam! What’s the problem?” Miriam sighed in exasperation. “That is the second-place winner for ‘Most Dangerous Angel in The Universe’, and you want to get closer? I am not going in there, and you shouldn’t either.” “Suit yourself.”, responded the rash, impulsive, and slightly arrogant Ezekijah.

The young Power strode defiantly down the hallway and into the large door on his right. There lay Samyaza, chained to four pillars with glowing spiritual coils, obviously ignoring the young messenger. His skin was a pale white, his face bent with fury, his physical form extremely large. The four pillars were arranged so that two were bound to his ankles and two to his wrists. Unlike Ezekijah and Miriam, Samyaza did not wear traditional white robes. Instead, he wore the bottom of what looked like a standard robe, and then golden armor, over nothing, on most of the rest of his body.

Between every two adjacent pillars ran 6 faint purple beams. Ezekijah figured they were probably some sort of alarm system.

The young angel looked at them for a moment, then his curiosity took over. He started toward the beams, cautiously waving his hands through them. Then he heard a large CLACK. CLACK. CLACK. CLACK. He saw Samyaza’s chains coming off. The Grigori stood, letting out a fierce battle roar as he crushed through the ceiling and caused a gigantic earthquake. Ezekijah turned and ran back to the monitors, but Miriam was not there. He ran out, screaming, “RUN!!” Luckily, she was out there. “What did you DO?”, she demanded, as Samyaza, 10 stories high, stood, letting out his battle roar. “I’m not sure.”, responded Ezekijah, sounding terrified. The two Messengers boarded their wingsurfs and fled to the north at top speed.

When they were finally a safe distance from the recently-freed Grigori, the two angels turned to each other, each dying to ask the same question. Finally Ezekijah broke the silence. “What do we do now?” “You got us into this, Mister Let’s-Go-See-The-Most-Dangerous-Grigori-In-The-Universe-Up-Close.”

Ezekijah replied resignedly, “I guess we go back to heaven and tell Gabriel what happened.” Miriam looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean we, Kimo Sabe? You got yourself into this, you get yourself out.”

Ezekijah was somewhat surprised by Miriam’s apparent “heartlessness”. I hope that you do not see her the same way. I would hate to think that I have maligned this angel. Try to see it from both points of view. Miriam is very exasperated, and rightly holds herself blameless, while Ezekijah is scared and shocked. He feels like she is being overly cold, and she feels like he has done something extremely stupid and is getting what he deserves.

Anyway, Ezekijah and Miriam demanifested and returned to Heaven. Ezekijah looked extremely downcast as he went to tell Gabriel the news. He stepped into the Messenger headquarters building. “Lord Gabriel?” Gabriel walked out of another room into this one. “How many times must I tell you it’s just Gabriel...What’s the matter?” At that exact moment, a loud and urgent knocking came from the door. Gabriel ran to it immediately.

At the door stood a younger, but full-ranked, winged angel of the host Dominions. His purple wings were spread behind him loosely, and he wore an expression of urgent fear. Gabriel looked down at him, for he was standing a bit higher. “What is it?”

The Dominion at the door responded, “I just came from Reconnaissance. Samyaza has escaped.” Gabriel’s face wore an expression of concerned surprise. “How?” “Apparently the Judgment Beams were broken.”, responded the Dominion. Gabriel sighed and said, “All right, get Research on finding out who did it--”. “That’s not necessary. I did it.” Gabriel looked back at him in astonishment. “What?”, he demanded, with a dangerous undertone to his voice. Ezekijah stammered, “The Sword...was...attacked. We were evacuated...I..saw the cruiser, wanted to check it out. When Miriam noticed..Samyaza..I..foolishly...decided to get a closer look, and accidentally freed him.”

“Well,”, said Gabriel, unsure of what to tell him for a moment, “You still have a mission. I’ll tell Mazarin to take you with him to wherever Samyaza is. From there you’ll have to take wingsurfs or something.”

As the two young angels boarded General Mazarin’s personal ship, the Glory of The Father, they beheld a startling array of angels, none below the level of full Powers. An Archangel or Angel had yet to pass the 777th’s stringent entry requirements.

The 777th Legion was the cream of the Guardian crop. Never before had a rookie, especially one who had graduated the simulator only a few weeks ago, seen the inside of the Glory. It was certainly an impressive sight. On the outside, it was shaped like a long, flat ovoid with a huge glass dome on the top. If you looked into the dome, you could see the ship’s enormous bridge. It was truly amazing. On either side, port or starboard, were 20 retractable high-powered Hellbinder cannons, and at the front and back, under the belly, were four-barreled rotary Demonchaser guns.

The ones under the back were arranged one at port and one at starboard, so they could act in triangle formation with the front guns if necessary.

I must attempt one more time to convey to you the enormity of this cruiser. It was incredibly large, at least 20 times the size of the Sword of The Cherubim. The entry ramp was dwarfed by the ship, though it was 20 feet wide and 40 feet long. Either of the young angels could have easily fit into any of the broadside cannons.

But the inside was far more amazing. Guardians of various Orders rushed about. The bridge was constantly in commotion, preparing for launch. At the head of the bridge, with his back to them and his hands clasped behind him beneath mighty outstretched blue wings stood General Mazarin. His black topknot hung off his head, and as he turned towards the young trainees, his sharp features came into view. His displeasure at having two rookies aboard his ship was readily apparent.

Mazarin attempted to suppress his grimace. “You two appear to already be equipped. Some wingsurfs,” he said, with a certain disgust, “have been placed in our armory. Go pick them up, and then make yourselves comfortable, because it’s going to be a long ride.

The two young angels left the bridge and walked toward the armory. They opened the large steel door and took the only two wingsurfs in there, then went out the door with the large sign over it that said: Recreation Deck.

As our heroes stepped onto the recreation deck, they saw various games and sparring weapons set out for amusement and training. There were several couches and video screens set out. Across the deck a few members of the legion fenced. They were pretty far away, but the distant clanking of blades made for a pleasant background noise. After a while’s pause, Ezekijah and Miriam sat down on one of the couches and turned on one of the video screens. After it prompted them, Ezekijah inserted a randomly picked disc. They watched a few, then went to some of the more interesting board games, and finally, at Miriam’s insistence, they began to spar.

Miriam had a distinct advantage due to the length of her sword. However, Ezekijah’s strength advantage was not to be discounted. You have to understand that they were fighting full-force. They could do this because the swords could not hurt them unless kindled with Angel Fire. In the first bout, Ezekijah ran forward to get close and neutralize her longer-sword advantage.

He got a sword in his chest for his trouble. In the next bout, he was more cautious. He laid his attacks on thick and heavy, slowly stepping forward as he did so. Miriam was rather inexperienced, and parried his attacks even when they could not reach her. One vertical strike to the head was blocked, stopping her blade. Ezekijah grabbed it and lunged for the throat.

These bouts went on for several hours. Finally, the ship reached its destination, and the two messengers were forced to stop. They flew north on their wingsurfs. As they went, they saw the gigantic Samyaza from a great distance. He had already traveled several miles east. However, this did not deter the battle-hardened 777th. They flew east in a dazzling display of winged speed, with swords at their belts and several of them with spears in their hands. It was an impressive sight.

After a few minutes, Ezekijah and Miriam reached the very small country where they were to perform a revival. Miriam turned to Ezekijah. “Well,”, she said, “here we are. How about you make the people more receptive and I’ll encourage the church.” “All right.”, said Ezekijah somewhat absently. Miriam sighed, then flew over toward the church.

Ezekijah raced over the country, wondering how he was supposed to open so many hearts. He reached out with his spirit. Maybe he could do it at a distance. It was at that time he felt a great disturbance in the spiritual energy of the area. It was east of here. Miriam! He raced east. There was Miriam, lying on the ground, light streaming from her body, with the hideous Ichabod at her throat. The rapier she had been using lay knocked aside a few feet from her right hand. Ezekijah raced forward, coaxing every oounce of speed he could from his wingboard, his sword tucked under his arm. As he neared the demon, he lit it up with Angel Fire. He was about to hit Ichabod when, BAM! He was on the ground, on his back. The demon had stepped to the side and swung his leg into Ezekijah’s.

Ichabod stood over Ezekijah with a long scimitar at his throat. He tried reaching for his Greek sword, but he could not. He thought he was a goner, but then everything went black for a moment and Ichabod was gone.

Ezekijah ran over to Miriam, and knelt down beside her. He looked down. Light was pouring from her stomach, and she was obviously in pain. He placed his hands on her abdomen, closing his eyes and focusing. Her wounds started to seal up, and she croaked weakly, “The mission...” Ezekijah looked at her. “All in good time, all in good time.” Slowly she regained her strength. Ezekijah looked at her. “Feeling okay?” She looked up at him, hesitantly. “Yeah..” “All right, I’ll open the people’s hearts, you go in and give the pastor the right words to say.”

“All...right,” Miriam said weakly. Ezekijah grabbed his wingboard and lifted into the air, waving his hand and creating a sparkling white energy. Then he snapped his fingers and it flew over the land, opening the hearts of the people.

Miriam closed her eyes, and her body slowly shifted form, taking the shape of a shimmering, fluid mass of light. She rose into the air, her full angelic beauty now visible, then slipped through a keyhole into the church. Ezekijah could feel the spiritual fluctuations as she touched down on the pastor, giving him the Maker’s words to say. He could feel the flux as the congregation’s hearts were set on fire, and he could sense as the seeds of revival were sown.

After a minute or two, Miriam dropped out of the keyhole, reassuming her human shape. She looked invigorated, but was clearly still recovering. Ezekijah stepped forward, coming close to her.

His eyes met hers. “Thanks for the fireball.” She looked back at him. “Anytime.” They both leaned forward slightly, and for a short moment, their lips met. Ezekijah’s head turned, and Miriam’s slowly pulled back. She smiled and said simply, “Let’s go home.”