In a flash, we shall have our answer, I thought. He will either admit us or cast us back down with His Might the way He once threw me into the Void, and Azrael down to the earth. He might even dissolve the lot of us first, for surely He can make His judgment on our success or failure before we even reach the gates of Heaven. What had He said in His Infinite Wisdom? He had said 'Come back as soon as you can.
We drew those souls to us, tightly, and out of Sheol we rose, into the full blasting light of Heaven as it came pouring over the walls and the gates. And upon seeing it, the souls gasped and were filled with an even greater desire to be a part of it, to stand in God's light...
But the gates were slammed shut to us, and outside them stood a legion of angels, with Michael at the forefront.
'What do you mean by this? God instructed you to return with ten souls, and you bring to our gates an army!'
This was a concept that was shocking to us, that Heaven should feel threatened by the arrival of so many souls, by anything.
'He has spoken,' Michael said warily, 'only ten souls will enter the gate.'
At this pronouncement, a loud wailing erupted around us, as the souls instantly grasped that this meant many of them would be denied even the glimpse of God we had promised, because now, standing so close to Heaven, they hungered for it as dying man craves water in a desert. Things happened quickly. They took up my cry from below: 'Let's give it all our strength!' and hurled themselves at the gates en masse. The other Angels responded quickly, trying to push them back, but there were too many of them, and they had the stronger motivation.
Finally, I saw the flaming light of Michael's sword emerge, and cut through one of the souls - and his smiting energies utterly destroyed it, winked it out of existence.
'Michael!' I cried in horror. 'You know now what you do!' but it was too late. The other souls that saw this, rather than flee in terror, renewed their efforts, and the other Angels followed Michael's example.
I was filled with unspeakable anger, as God stood by and allowed this to occur, and I found myself shouting:
'Batter down the gates! We will have our audience!'
And how surprised were the Angels when some of the spirits used their ingenious abilities to manifest something from nothing - the same sort of power I had stumbled across in the Void - to summon weapons to their hands, to fight back, to use what they knew of war and conflict, something that had never been brought near Heaven. And in our anguish and their determined suffering, the invisible demons around us multiplied by the thousands, and they too joined the fight, though not out of any desire to win - merely because it was their nature. And their mere presence increased the sorrow and the fury and the determination of the souls, driving them on.
This great horror unfurled before us and around us, and for every soul that vanished, I became more determined that no matter the cost, we would win this battle.
1/SEVERAL EXCITING TAGS
It was so, so much worse. ]
In a flash, we shall have our answer, I thought. He will either admit us or cast us back down with His Might the way He once threw me into the Void, and Azrael down to the earth. He might even dissolve the lot of us first, for surely He can make His judgment on our success or failure before we even reach the gates of Heaven. What had He said in His Infinite Wisdom? He had said 'Come back as soon as you can.
We drew those souls to us, tightly, and out of Sheol we rose, into the full blasting light of Heaven as it came pouring over the walls and the gates. And upon seeing it, the souls gasped and were filled with an even greater desire to be a part of it, to stand in God's light...
But the gates were slammed shut to us, and outside them stood a legion of angels, with Michael at the forefront.
'What do you mean by this? God instructed you to return with ten souls, and you bring to our gates an army!'
This was a concept that was shocking to us, that Heaven should feel threatened by the arrival of so many souls, by anything.
'He has spoken,' Michael said warily, 'only ten souls will enter the gate.'
At this pronouncement, a loud wailing erupted around us, as the souls instantly grasped that this meant many of them would be denied even the glimpse of God we had promised, because now, standing so close to Heaven, they hungered for it as dying man craves water in a desert. Things happened quickly. They took up my cry from below: 'Let's give it all our strength!' and hurled themselves at the gates en masse. The other Angels responded quickly, trying to push them back, but there were too many of them, and they had the stronger motivation.
Finally, I saw the flaming light of Michael's sword emerge, and cut through one of the souls - and his smiting energies utterly destroyed it, winked it out of existence.
'Michael!' I cried in horror. 'You know now what you do!' but it was too late. The other souls that saw this, rather than flee in terror, renewed their efforts, and the other Angels followed Michael's example.
I was filled with unspeakable anger, as God stood by and allowed this to occur, and I found myself shouting:
'Batter down the gates! We will have our audience!'
And how surprised were the Angels when some of the spirits used their ingenious abilities to manifest something from nothing - the same sort of power I had stumbled across in the Void - to summon weapons to their hands, to fight back, to use what they knew of war and conflict, something that had never been brought near Heaven. And in our anguish and their determined suffering, the invisible demons around us multiplied by the thousands, and they too joined the fight, though not out of any desire to win - merely because it was their nature. And their mere presence increased the sorrow and the fury and the determination of the souls, driving them on.
This great horror unfurled before us and around us, and for every soul that vanished, I became more determined that no matter the cost, we would win this battle.