Evenstar (58 page)

Berith stood tall.
 
“What do we do now?”

Lucifer burned blue.
 
“Disobey.”
 

Berith looked towards the throne.
 
“What about the other Archangels, the two-winged angels, what about Him?”
 

Lucifer shook his head.
 
“They rise with us or fall with Him.”

Andrealphus paced.
 
“War.”

Lucifer nodded.
 
“War.”

Furcas stood tall.
 
“I will fight and Paimon will be with us.”

Berith was resolute.
 
“As will I.”

Andrealphus nodded.
 
“Whatever the cost, we get them all back.”

Helion froze, staring between them.
 
Lucifer looked at him.
 
“This onus is not on the likes of you or any two-winged.
 
If you choose not to fight with us, do not fight against us.”

Helion couldn’t reply, so he nodded in shock.
 
Lucifer pointed to Furcas and Andrealphus.
 
“You will stay here, and Berith will go with me to collect Belial.”

Andrealphus seethed.
 
“Why not me?”

“It is
his
brother we go to face.”
 
Lucifer looked at Helion.
 
“Show me where she was taken from.”
 
The three took off into the air, leaving Furcas and Andrealphus to wait.
 

Dahlia watched them go.
 
What happened to Belial?

I do not know what they saw, only that Belial came back forever altered, her joy stolen.
 
She never spoke of why.
 
Berith also came back changed.
 
He hated the brother he once loved and Lucifer had made his decision completely and finally.
 
Any doubt that he may have had was gone by the time he reached us again.

Furcas sat and waited.
 
Andrealphus paced.
 
After a time the other Archangels joined them to make their shift change.
 
Michael gawked.
 
“Where is he?”

Andrealphus regarded them.
 
“Soul searching.”

Barachiel frowned.
 
“What does this mean?”

Andrealphus glared.
 
“You do not need to understand.
 
Wait.”

Michael was tense.
 
“Has Uriel not come yet?”

Andrealphus struggled to rein in his temper.
 
“No, was he supposed to?”

Michael saw a fire in Andrealphus’ eyes that made him take a step back.
 
“We found Belial.
 
Uriel volunteered to carry out His orders but it has been some time…”

Andrealphus made his face blank.
 
“Alleluia.”

Raphael watched them and edged away.
 
Selaphiel and Jegudiel followed his lead.
 
Raphael eyed Furcas and Andy.
 
He spoke softly, “Catharsis comes now.”

Uriel slammed into the ground, frantic.
 
“He rages!”

Michael looked up alarmed.
 
“Who?”

“Lucifer!”

Michael looked out.
 
“What has he done?”

Lucifer flew towards them with Belial in his arms.
 
Berith was at his side.
 
Lucifer landed and let Belial down.
 
She staggered, her wings cocked at angles, blood painted her skin red.
 
Her eyes were empty.
 
Uriel eyed her, openly desirous.
 
Andrealphus reached for her in concern.
 
She flinched and stumbled away from everyone.

Lucifer looked from the blood on his hands to Uriel.
 
“You, I will
not
spare.”

Uriel paled.

Michael stepped in between the two and looked at them both.
 
“What is going on?
 
Belial is supposed to have her wings removed.
 
Why was this not done, Uriel?”

Uriel trembled.
 
“I was going to cut them, but I, then, I did…other…things…”

Michael frowned.
 
“What does this mean?”

“
Michael
.”
 
Lucifer shook his head.
 
“No more of this.
 
That order is wrong.”

Michael was aghast.
 
“You disobey Him?”

Lucifer nodded.
 
“Yes, I only obey myself now.”

“You cannot!
 
None of you can.”

Lucifer took a step towards Michael.
 
“Yes, they can.
 
I set them free, as I set you free.
 
Michael, you are free, the tether no longer exists.”

Michael was distressed.
 
“No!
 
You cannot disobey!
 
You were not made that way!”

Lucifer showed him his remade form.
 
“I am new, recreated.
 
I am my own now.
 
Stand with me.”

Michael stared at him.
 
“But Lucifer…”

“You are my second.”
 
He gripped Michael’s shoulder.
 
“Fight at my side, Michael.”

Michael shook.
 
“I am nothing, you said so yourself.”

“You were nothing as I was nothing, but you
can
remake yourself as your own through your choices.
 
Will you not stand with me?”

Michael stared at him.
 
His will was not as strong.
 
Even freed, he felt the compulsion to obey Him.
 
“I cannot.”

“Then stand aside and do not fight me.
 
You are no longer my second.”
 
Michael went pale; he trembled and looked away, hurt.
 
Lucifer gestured to Barachiel, Selaphiel, Jegudiel, and Raphael.
 
“What is your decision?”

Raphael shook his head.
 
“I fight on neither side.”
 
Selaphiel and Jegudiel followed him.
 

Uriel stared at Berith.
 
“Brother, what do you do?”

Berith was cold.
 
“You are my brother no longer.”

Uriel’s face went blank.
 
He moved to stand next to Michael.
 
Barachiel looked between the two groups, afraid.
 
He stepped up next to Michael.
 
Michael tried once more.
 
He held his hands out to Lucifer.
 
“Please do not do this.
 
You are perfect.
 
Everything is back to the way that is right!
 
Forget this folly!
 
Be with us again.
 
Be with me
again
.”
 

“
No
.”

Michael pleaded with his eyes.
 
“Lucifer, I must tell Him, I can do naught else.”

“Then you leave me no choice, Michael.”
 
Lucifer sent a torrent of fire at him.

The Archangels scattered into the air, beat at the fire, and raced for the throne.
 
Michael held back, gave him one look of despair, and fled.
 

Lucifer looked at the three who would not fight.
 
“Why?”

Raphael held his hands out.
 
“I can only heal, not injure.”

“What if He orders it?”

Raphael shook his head.
 
“I can only heal, not injure.”

Selaphiel nodded.
 
“And I can only watch and record as events unfold.
 
My brother stands with me.
 
But if you choose to attack us, I will defend against you.”
 

Lucifer did not look pleased, but he did not attack them.
 
“Do not get in our way.”

They nodded and flew off.
 

Lucifer turned to Belial.
 
“You still wish to fight?
 
To help in this?”

Belial looked at him and nodded.
 
There was no joy in her eyes, no love or innocence.
 
She licked her lips, taking the blood off.
 
“I have nothing else now.
 
I will do as I promised you.”

Lucifer stared towards the throne.
 
The choirs of angels stopped singing; their voices rose in a wail.
 
He took a deep breath.
 
“They know, they all know.
 
Michael has betrayed me.”

BETRAYER!
 
WAR!
 
DESTROY THEM.

Two-winged angels flocked to the air, filling the horizon with their glowing forms.
 
Their bodies erupted with weaponized light and heat.
 
Singers turned to Wailers, making the sky ring with deadly concussions.
 
Guardians’ wings filled with sparks of electricity.
 
Other two-winged swirled with light, fire, and green radiation.
 

Berith stood by Lucifer’s side.
 
“They will not part for us.”

“Then we will part them.”
 
Lucifer spread his wings and leapt into the sky.
 
The others followed, energy consuming their bodies.
 
They raced toward the throne.

Angels met them in the air.
 
Lucifer burned like a star.
 
He blinded, he threw fire, roasting entire divisions in an instant.
 
Berith, Andrealphus, and Furcas were behind him, their arcs of fire, sonic blasts, and lightning cut down swaths of angels.

Belial’s empty eyes surged with feeling as her heart beat with the sound of battle and pain.
 
She threw herself into the fight.
 
She had been made nothing, now she was filled with death and agony.
 
She ripped and tore with a vehemence only matched by Lucifer himself.
 
She fought side by side with him, the pair launching fire and crushing blows as if dancing together, perfect in dealing death.

The battle raged, timeless, merciless.
 
Throngs of angel crashed against them, attempting to push them back, but Lucifer and his Archangels were relentless.
 
They made ground with each wave of death.
 
They slogged through angels like a thick mud.
 
Lucifer saw the throne and spun fire, clearing everything around him.
 

A horn blew.
 

Michael flew upwards alone.
 
“Peace, Lucifer!”

Lucifer calmed his rage.
 
“Let me pass, Michael.”

Michael quaked.
 
“He gives you
one
chance to stop.
 
Please take it Lucifer,
please
!”

“I will not.”

Michael’s face fell.
 
“Then fight us, leave the two-winged angels out of this.”

Lucifer looked at the weak two-winged.
 
“I would never have touched them if you had not sent them against me.”

Michael nodded.
 
“If I pull them back will you leave them?”

“Yes.”

The young angels drew back.
 
Raphael dove into them.
 
Flashes of light followed his healing touches.
 
He flew, splattered in blood.
 
Raphael followed the battle among the dead and dying.
 
He mended what he could and sent to a gentle death those who faded.
 

Michael drew back as Barachiel and Uriel rose out of the retreating angels.
 
They threw fire in twin torrents.
 
Lucifer swept his hand up and cast the flame aside.
 

Belial saw Uriel and screamed in fear and rage.
 
The sound mixed with Ladriam’s song still trapped inside her.
 
The angels around her died, bleeding from the eyes and ears.
 
Uriel held his head and lunged for her.

Berith pounced on his brother.
 
He ripped at Uriel’s new armor.
 
“Terrible, disgraced creature!
 
Foul, horrid, cancerous blot!
 
Not of my mold any longer!”
 
He broke one of Uriel’s wings and threw his younger brother back into the throng of dead and dying angel.
 

Andrealphus found a break in the fight and bolted towards the throne.
 
Michael saw him and dove, but Andrealphus avoided him.
 
He smashed into Paimon, lifting and ripping the bound Archangel out of his shackles.
 
Andrealphus leapt on Ladriam’s prison.
 
The metal burnt him and blasted him into the air.