CounterPoint (26 page)

“Are these the nails used to bind Jesus Christ to the cross?”

“Yes,” announced Ariel. “Apart from the caretakers, no other human has seen them since the time of the Crucifixion. You can only see them because you are with me. They are embedded into the wood but only present themselves in the presence of a divine being.’ Ariel held out his hand. A bright white light shone from it and onto the hatch which proceeded to open.

“Can’t you just vanish down there and get what we need?” questioned David. He didn’t really like the look of the steep, unlit, dilapidated small staircase in front of him.

“This area is beyond divine. Not even Michael could use his powers in this cavern.” Ariel stood still, bowed his head and began to walk down the winding stairs. David followed suit, the long unsteady walk down the small, broken stone stairs. He was glad his ring was burning as brightly as possible; he desperately didn’t want to fall to his death in here of all places. The deeper they went, the narrower the roof became and even though David wasn’t claustrophobic, he was beginning to feel it. On the sides of the walls, etched into pure stone were horrid depictions of the crucifixion. David thought this would have been a shrine, but was shocked by the brutal illustration of it all. They kept walking until they came to a small wooden door, like that in an old medieval cottage. There were words written on this door but he couldn’t decipher them.

“It reads –
Pass through this door to realisation
”, said Ariel. David actually thought he detected slight anger in Ariel’s voice.

Ariel reached out ever so gently and pushed open the door into a small rotting room. Following Ariel, David was immediately spooked by what he saw. The room was certainly small, with jagged walls cut from the stone and Earth. A small chest lay upon a boulder-like slab. Behind the chest stood a candle, on top of a golden jewel encrusted candle holder - burning steady and bathing the room a subtle orange yellow. The candlestick was half way down but still burning brightly. Ariel took a moment to stare at the candle. It was truly not of this world. He turned to David and instructed him that now was the time, the reason he was here in the first place. Telling David to open the chest and remove the True Cross, Ariel stood back. As David walked towards the chest, the door slammed shut loudly and the candle began burning brighter. He was spooked and, in a moment of bravery, swung round to Ariel and demanded answers. He knew something wasn’t right: there was something wrong with this room and what they were doing. It was as if the devil himself was in this room.

“David, we don’t have time,” whispered Ariel. He did not dare raise his voice or tempt anger in this room.

“Ariel, something is wrong here. This room, I have a gut wrenching feeling ever since I walked into it. I don’t think we were ever meant to come here,” whispered David. He kept his ring fully ablaze and held it quite close to the sacred chest sitting on the slab of stone. David half expected something to try and attack him from the chest; it wouldn’t be the most unusual thing that had happened to him of late.

“I can’t tell you David because I do not know, now please,” said Ariel, desperate to complete the mission.

“Ariel, think about it. You consider this room the holiest on Earth yet when I mentioned Jesus earlier you called him a trouble maker.”

“He is. This room is not about the person but about the act. It is never about the person.”

“Ariel I have been shot at, thrown across rooms, dragged half way across the world and told just to trust in faith. Ariel, I can’t keep going on like this. Summon Pravuil down here, now!”

Ariel stepped forward, concern in his eyes. David, holding his ground, deciding they were now at a tipping point of no return. He hoped Ariel wasn’t keeping anything from him, but everyone had secrets, and he was dealing with angels.

Realising the frantic mood David was in, Ariel stood back and put his hands up in an attempt to calm the situation. It was then that quiet, incomprehensible voices from the chest could be heard. The ultimate divine power itself seemed to be in that chest. David turned towards the chest and placed both his hands on each side of it. It was warm, very warm. He lifted the lid, which was encrusted with small shiny royal purple jewels. Time seemed to stand still for David as he opened the chest lid. Inside was the smallest piece of darkened wood, no bigger than a car key, lying on a purple plush pillow with gold threading and stitching.

“Lift the pillow off gently and hand it to me,” interjected Ariel. He sounded nervous – taken away in the moment. Gently holding the pillow at both sides, David slowly lifted it up towards himself and handed it to Ariel. Ariel seemed to stare at it for an eternity before snapping into action. He swung round the room, almost as if he was expecting something to appear. Looking at David, he thanked him for his actions to the service of God.

Chapter 29

Amber was glaring straight at this hobo-like man standing there, daring to tempt her to destroy him. If she wasn’t so interested in the information he might possess, she would have done so minutes ago. Knowing that this was no mere human though, Amber was trying to figure out exactly what it was. The creature whilst in human form seemed to emanate a curious black pulse which could only been seen through angelic eyes. But there was one thing of which she was certain: he was evil incarnate.

“Let me tell you a story, dear. I think you’ll find it very interesting. It’s quite similar to one you’ve heard over and over again,” he said, smiling as he walked around the rooms edges as if pacing himself along with his story.  “Once there were two brothers and one father. The two brothers fought fiercely to gain the approval of their father, hoping for promotion. Both fulfilled every wish and request and order that he ever gave them. They completed and surmounted every challenge he placed before them. After what seemed like an eternity of this constant familial rivalry, the brothers are tasked with looking after the vaunted all important Human Experiment. The father informed all his creations that this experiment, the Human Experiment, was the most important thing ever created. Every angel would be brought to bear to cater for it.”

“We know this story,” said Amber loudly, but the man continued regardless.

“These humans would dominate a planet and be free from the constraints placed upon other creations including angels. They would have free-will and be free from a life of servitude. He declared that the Human Experiment was the most important event in history and that angels would be responsible for it. They would guide and protect them. They were ultimately to consider them more important than even him. They would have to wage war for these new kids if required, and die for them if necessary. Upon hearing this, one son rose up against his father. He explained he felt these humans would be inferior to his father and all other angels, that they did not deserve this amount of attention. God struck him from Heaven and ordered his other son to lead every angel into battle and defeat him once and for all. God even created a prison for this disobedient and disgruntled son. With the war still raging, God left and was never seen again. They still wait upstairs for his return – some even believe that he will never return. Some even wonder whether he ever existed. But when it comes down to it, there hasn’t been someone in charge for millions of years. When he comes back there is going to be the biggest expulsion in his empire the galaxy has ever seen. That much I can promise you,” he smiled, his toothless grin sickening Amber.

“When God does return it’s vermin like you who will be expelled from his realm. Like an ugly boil being pricked.”        

“Ah well, you see I thought you’d say that,” he chuckled, “but unfortunately it isn’t going to happen like that, dear. You see, you never let me finish my story. When the disgruntled son went to God to protest against the Human Experiment, the other obedient one was also present. It was just them three, the father and his two closest sons. After hearing what one had protested against, the boss in the blink of an eye created a prison for him to be thrust into. He instructed the obedient son to do that personally, and to destroy any followers he may have had. With that, God vanished and has never been seen since. Now, surely that begs the question,” he beckoned to Amber, his hand outright towards her.

“You’re telling me nothing I don’t already know.”

“Heaven forbid, my dear. I’m telling you the one true story of what happened. Everything you know has been scripted and remodelled to the point where it is watertight. But consider this. During that meeting the father issued his orders and vanished. Never to be heard from again. Michael charged from that meeting into Heaven and rallied its armies. Lucifer along with a rag tag bunch of others were drove to Earth and most were slaughtered. Now here’s the clincher, darling,” he smiled a toothless grin again and paused for theatrical effect, spreading his arms out wide, “the only creatures in creation that have laid eyes on God are the almighty archangels. Then God left, and no one knew what his orders were. Legend has written over the thousands of years that it was Michael ordered to banish Lucifer to Hell.

“And?”

“What, and consider this greatly, darling, if it was the other way around.”

***

“What is it Ariel?” snapped David, preparing himself for an attack.

“I don’t know. It was foolish; I just expected something to befall us for lifting the most sacred item in creation.”

“What is this candle?” asked David, gazing at its mesmerizing glow. Its flame burned unnaturally slow and glittered as if with the sparkles of diamonds. 

“We don’t have time, David. We must proceed with the mission. David, I have never been down here before in my existence. I have no idea what this candle signifies.”

“You said no one has been down here in hundreds of years, yet this candle is burning brightly. Someone isn’t telling us something. I have a very bad feeling about this.”

Ariel looked at him sincerely. For the first time since this had all began Ariel actually fully understood the human standing in front of him. This human was more than willing to question him and what he stood for. It was more than what could be said of his encounters with most other humans, no matter how few they had been. The candle burning did concern him.

“I can detect from this candle that it is something not of this world,” replied Ariel, trying to muster his words together. Looking at it through his angelic eyes, he saw a dark energy emanating from it deep within. “That candle should not be here without any doubt. It might be a countdown to the apocalypse, a countdown to paradise on Earth. I can estimate it’s been burning since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.”

A flash of light engulfed the room like a match setting light to a pool of gas. Pravuil stood in the corner, now clad in a tailored suit and matching shirt and tie, accented by the usual bright tie and cufflinks. 

“You’re absolutely right,” said Pravuil, “To put it simply, it’s a stop watch. When the candle is spent, life on this planet will cease to exist. This planet will cease to exist.”

David stared at it in horror. “How long have we got?”

“Well, before Michael decided to go to war against demon kind, it was projected at least another two thousand years before any momentous changes would come. That candle is burning a lot faster now than before, even faster than two weeks ago. I fear we have less time than I realised. It is surmised that when the candle burns out, then the experiment is over and Earth is no longer needed. The length left on the candle signifies how much longer humanity must wait, how much longer they must be trialled before they are allowed to reach paradise.” He knew the obvious question was coming and yet he had no answer for it, only God truly knew what happened to humanity when the candle burned out. Did they perish along with the Earth or ascend into Heaven. Would those humans already in Heaven be cast out when the world ended? A fatal expulsion as the summation of the Human Experiment. 

“You’re telling me this whole planet could soon come to an end?” said David. Ariel was also fascinated, but had a greater sense of foreboding. They were truly working against the clock now. The burning of the candle was an ominous sign of how little time they had until Michael unleashed all-out war.

“Sir, if the experiment can no longer be continued, such as if Michael unleashes all-out war, will that cause the candle to extinguish?”

“Yes, Ariel. The candle monitors all happenings here on Earth. If the experiment can no longer be continued it will extinguish itself and Earth will cease to exist. I know it sounds cruel but you need to consider this. Humankind is an experiment by God, like we were. And countless others before us. Dinosauria, or as you said dinosaurs, were also an experiment. God wanted to see if they could evolve and become self-aware, develop a society. They couldn’t and therefore they were exterminated. Sooner or later the human experiment will have to be evaluated. The consequences of that evaluation would depend on the results of said evaluation.”

“We really are just an experiment in a large Petri dish, aren’t we?” asked David incredulously, ever aware of the candle flickering away.

“Everything is always an experiment David. Do not take offence at it. We angels were an experiment. We were created to be the workhorses of God’s endeavours after multiple previous creations had failed. Hence we were created with no need to sleep or eat. No need for relaxation and only the very basic of emotions. The ultimate working machine.”

Ariel nodded in agreement. The gift of eternal existence was marred by the requirement to work and obey for that eternal existence. Disobedience was countered with extermination. Angelic existence was a divine gift wrapped up in a blessed curse.

“Then we have work to do,” said David. He refused to be an experiment that failed.

“Time is running out gentlemen. The clock on this planet is ticking. Every single life form on this planet is at risk unless we act,” spoke Pravuil in a sound, authoritarian tone, “and act now.”