The Revelation of Gabriel Adam (35 page)

But the sphere resisted manipulation. He fought to maintain control, but through his disbelief, Septis knew it was slipping away. The sphere had grown, and as it continued to do so, the integrity of its surface started to fail. From inside the center, he saw a flash of white light, and something screeched in pain, but the cry was not human.

On the surface, the shapes of his creatures formed again. They clawed at the sky and the ground as the ball spun, this time to escape.

“What is this?”

His answer came quickly. Shafts of light pierced the shadows of the sphere. One by one, they burst out from within to the sounds of his dying pets. The ground shook under Septis’s feet until the sphere could no longer contain what was inside, and he knew now that he had failed.

The eruption struck with an inescapable force. A blinding starburst expanded out from the sphere and devoured the shadow creatures, tearing them apart like shrapnel as the light cut through their forms, extinguishing red eyes.

Septis could only watch as his fears were realized in the boy’s newly discovered power. He fed off the ring, its glow pulsing from his outstretched hand, his body electrifying the air into a crackling display of energy. The boy seemed to hang, suspended above the stairs where the epicenter of the explosion had occurred, his back arched to the night sky above. Light took on a fluid form and reached out from his back like the wings of a great bird of prey. They unfolded, and Septis felt the excruciating warmth cast from their terrible magnificence. Once spread to their fullest, they began to dissipate into the air around as the boy descended to the ground. Pieces of light fell away like feathers shed from the wings until they had vanished entirely.

Anger lit within Septis like a torch. He would not concede without a fight.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

Gabe breathed in as though his lungs had never known air. His heart beat as if for the first time. The ring in his hand pulsed with a pleasant calm that radiated into his body, masking the pain in his broken arm. He lifted his right arm to Septis, the jewel of the ring pointed at the demon. Gabe knew what to do.

Septis seemed to know as well. He began to change, his body undergoing a metamorphosis. His remaining clothes and human skin stripped away as flesh and bone grew, building new mass and shape. In an instant, he nearly tripled his original size. Hands elongated, transforming into claws. Talons tore through expensive shoes. Wings, skin-like and tethered to exposed bone, ripped from his back. Yellow eyes shone from a beastly head. Teeth filled his mouth as his jaw stretched, adjusting to its new length, until finally his new form was complete.

He looked like a deformed dragon made from human parts, turned inside out, pitiful and grotesque with an exposed bony structure built like an armored exoskeleton. Oozing muscle tissue stretched between the exposed ribs and vertebrae of an elongated neck adorned with a row of spiked scales on each side of the spine. Each fist-sized plate hooked from the beast’s winding back to a point like rows of teeth in a shark’s mouth.

Septis’s ghastly form crouched on the ground, monstrous, breathing heavily and ready to strike.

“Do you think this is the end, boy?” Septis growled. “Do you think this is over?”

“It is for you,” Gabe said.

Septis lashed out, his serpentine neck craning to an impossible length, attacking with an open mouth of razor-sharp teeth. “This realm is ours. We have rights.”

Gabe didn’t move. The ring glowed and seized the demon in midair.

“You are bound, Septis. You are no more.”

The ring opened up, and from the jewel ropes of light were thrown at the demon, lassoing his arms and legs. His body ignited into flame where the ropes wrapped around the beast. Septis fought against the tangle of light, and Gabe felt his struggle jerk at the lines like a fish caught in a net.

More ropes of light flung out from the ring, covering and binding the wings and jaws together. Gabe could see them constrict, pulling tight, and the demon’s bones cracked. Septis roared in agony as his body folded in on itself, his bones breaking down, yellow eyes disappearing into the threads of light, his body now a pyre of flame.

The ropes of light at last engulfed the demon in a mass of glowing twine. It then imploded, crushing its prisoner to nothing as if Septis had been dissolved by the ring’s power.

On Gabe’s hand, Solomon’s Ring seemed to open a whirlpool of spinning light that extended beyond his arm’s reach. Ropes of light retreated into the jewel, swallowing whatever remained of the demon. Once again, the heirloom grew dark on his finger.

The enemy was gone.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

With the ring’s power fading, the warmth left Gabe’s body. He staggered, suddenly filled with an oppressing exhaustion. Pain returned to his arm so great that he felt he might become sick on the street. His legs struggled to support his weight, and he knew ligaments in his knee had been torn.

He wasted little time thinking about the enemy’s demise and turned toward the compound. Dawn was breaking on the horizon. As the sun’s first light shone through, the full extent of the devastation was revealed in horrifying detail. Dead soldiers and refugees lay in the streets, their remains clawed open and chewed upon. But Gabe’s concern was for the living. His father and Micah.

Gabe limped to where his father had fallen but could not find him.

“Gabriel!” his dad shouted from where the temple once stood. Gabe could see his father on the ground by the mangled red gate of the garden. He was waving frantically.

Relying on what little strength he had left, Gabe tried to ignore the searing cold of the pain in his broken parts and limped to his father’s side. During the fight his dad had somehow managed to crawl over to Micah, and now he was attempting to comfort her.

Gabe looked at her, and the sight stole his breath. Tears welled in his eyes. The end was near. With each passing second, Micah’s life slipped away. Gabe fell and looked into her half-opened eyes, but they were vacant and unresponsive. He brushed his fingers through her hair, moving the strands from her perfect face. Breathing came in shallow gasps, her skin cold to the touch.

Despite her state, Gabe thought she looked peaceful. He wondered if she even realized what was happening to her. He held her hand, massaging her fingers as tears trickled down his face.

His father reached for Gabe’s shoulder. “It’s okay. She’ll be at peace soon. She’ll be with God,” he said.

Gabe found no comfort in the words. He didn’t care about her being with God. He wanted her to be here with him.

Nearby, Afarôt emerged, digging himself out from under a pile of wreckage. He stood and brushed his clothes off. His shirt had been torn and a large bloodstain covered his hip, but he moved without favoring the leg, giving Gabe the impression he had not been injured.

“Afarôt, quickly!” his father said, his voice hoarse.

Seeing the broken girl, Afarôt ran to them. When he reached Micah, he shoved Gabe out of the way and kneeled beside her. He put a hand on her sternum and then one across her forehead.

“Barely,” he said. Afarôt closed his eyes. His palms glowed like they did at the entrance to the tabernacle. Warmth radiated off his body and into Micah. The pools of blood gathered under her skin faded.

Gabe moved back from the growing heat as Micah was covered in a haze of light. Her body shuddered, and her back arched from the ground. Gabe thought of the electric paddles in hospitals used to revive a patient’s heart. He could only watch and listen as Afarôt’s power flowed into her, amazed by the sounds coming from beneath her skin. It was as if he could hear bones and tendons mending inside her legs and torso. “What are you doing to her?”

Afarôt smiled and in his heavy Ethiopian accent whispered, “I am not called Healer of God for nothing.”

Her breathing got deeper and deeper. Gabe stared in disbelief as her dilated pupils shrank, revealing the brown in her eyes. She coughed. Her eyes fluttered for a moment. Finally, they opened, looking full of life.

Gabe’s emotions overflowed, and he began to sob uncontrollably.

Micah looked at him, and a smile blossomed on her lips. “What happened?” she asked in a weak voice.

“I thought we’d lost you,” Gabe said.

“Luckily we did not.” Afarôt removed his hands and bent over her, beaming. “It seems Gabriel has managed to best the enemy.”

She turned to Gabe, and her eyes seemed to sparkle in the soft light of dawn. “I never lost faith that you would.”

Gabe laughed through the pain in his arm and wiped his eyes. “You could have told me that sooner. Between you and my father, I think I was the last to know.”

Afarôt turned his attention to Gabe’s dad, laying hands on the injured leg, the light haze glowing over his body.

“My skin is tingling,” his father said. He couldn’t suppress his smile as he watched. “It feels like warm water but inside my muscles and bones.”

Gabe was next. Afarôt sat beside him and looked at his arm, shaking his head as he did so and said, “Such an injury might have been your undoing. You have shown uncanny strength. Fortitudo Dei indeed. We all are very proud. But perhaps we should consider a less heroic method of dispensing with demons in the future should the enemy be inspired to try again. Perhaps some training, yes?”

“What happened to you?” Gabe asked. “Where were you?”

“I’m sorry, dear Gabriel. My injuries, too, were severe. It took some time for me to heal myself. I do hope you will forgive me.”

Gabe nodded as the Ethiopian’s hands warmed against his skin. Gabe felt the strange sensation of all the pain and injuries retreat from his body. His arm mended with a popping sound. The gash on his brow sealed. He put his hand to his forehead and felt not so much as a scratch. His knee became hot, and it felt like snakes moved under his skin as ligaments reattached themselves. Strength filled his joints and muscles as the sun began to rise above the distant orange hills.

“We shall be in need of the Vatican’s services now, I think,” his father said as Afarôt removed his hands from Gabe. “You wouldn’t happen to have a phone nearby, would you?”

“In due time. But there is another matter to which we should attend first. You are a priest, are you not?” Afarôt stood along with Gabe’s dad, and together they walked past the compound gate and into the streets.

Gabe noticed refugees emerging from where they hid, gathering around their fallen.

Micah sat up and followed Gabe’s gaze to the carnage in the city. “I don’t think the world will ever be the same after this.”

“I don’t, either. I think I’m learning to accept that.” He stood and helped her to her feet. His father and Afarôt were comforting the people below. “This isn’t over,” Gabe said, facing Micah. “Septis said they wouldn’t stop. Not until they got what was rightfully theirs.”

“Maybe that’s true, but regardless, at least we’ve managed to gain some time. When you’re trying to stop the End of Days, time is the most valuable commodity there is. Besides, we have Solomon’s Ring,” she said. “And we have you.”

“Maybe I sit the next one out and let you do all the heavy lifting.”

Micah laughed and playfully punched his shoulder. “I think I’m going to see if there is anything I can do. Why don’t you find someplace quiet and catch your breath?”

“I think that’s a very good idea. Thanks.”

“Thank you, Gabriel Adam,” she said with a smile and left him to join his father and Afarôt.

Gabe turned and walked toward the main building, its white dome bright under the morning sun. As he walked, something glittered in the light, catching his eye. Under a loose pile of debris he found the Gethsemane Sword. Its blade shined through the dirt and dust covering the metal. He picked it up to give to Micah later.

Before he retired to the peaceful silence waiting inside the main church, Gabe looked once again to the street below. He didn’t notice the devastation anymore. He could only see Micah putting her arm around a crying woman, consoling her. He wanted nothing more than to hold Micah in his arms and tell her all the things he felt for her in his heart, but there would be plenty of time for that later.

Gabe cupped the ring in his hands and studied the faded sheen of the band and the dark jewel lit by the clearing blue sky. There was comfort in knowing what he could do with it, but even as powerful as it had been, Solomon’s weapon paled next to the strength given to him from those he loved. He knew the future was uncertain, but for now, none of that mattered. Whether the enemy would rise from these ashes and try again to cast the world into darkness was a question that didn’t much interest him at the moment. Instead, he watched his father below and the life shining in Micah’s face.

All was well, and he could not wish for anything more.

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