Chapter 2 – Gehenna
"Samael? Samael! It is I!" A voice from inside the darkness called out to the angel broken upon the floor of the cavern.
"Who? Who is…there?" Shaitans voice muttered softly through his mouth yet it was dry and crackled like his splintered bones from his towering fall from grace. Somewhere within the pain his aching mind recalled the voice. "Malak? Malak ha-Dam, Is that you my old friend?" Shaitan replied as he gathered strength to lift his upper body from the earth beneath him and look about. All around him was darkness, having never been accustomed to the strange sensations of blackness his eyes had not yet adjusted.
The voice cried back, despondent and shattered. "Yes." It hesitated briefly, "Actually, no my Lord. I am no longer the Angel of the Blood of the Spirit. I am now Maziq ha-dam, Demon of the Blood of Gehenna, in your service, under your will."
Shaitan snapped, "Do not speak to me of will! I wish not to hear of it." A sigh released from under his breath and he spoke again. "I am afraid that God has cast me out of our house within the heavens and has deemed me King of Gehenna, ruler of the creatures of the earth but not his bastard children that roam it." His eyes began to focus and the picture of the tormented fall etched into his mind. "I am Shaitan and this is my Hell." The final word echoed within the darkness as Maziq approached Shaitan.
"I fear that God has cast out an entire nation of angels from the heavens. We have all been struck down and thrown into this dark pit to serve under you. We watched from the clouds as you walked into his light. A moment later you appeared in the center of the pool and then you took flight. As you reached the clouds all of the angels that had taken you as their leader in this pursuit were snuffed from their perches, our wings aflame as we plummeted through the heavens until finally reaching the darkness." Maziq stopped for a moment and then continued. "We fell into the darkness. And the darkness scooped us up and then she violently threw us down upon this bed."
Shaitans eyes had become accustomed to the dark tomb within the earth. Upon the floor in all directions, crumpled, smoldering, and beaten from the gates, lay a countless multitude of angels. The cavern was immense, no roof was to be seen, and no walls could be made out. Shaitan had become King, King of Gehenna where the only flames within this pit of hell were ethereal, set ablaze to burn the spirit out of the once beautiful and stalwart angels.
"Maziq?" Shaitan turned toward the direction of the voice he heard in the darkness. As his eyes had become accustomed to the obscurity of this place he could see the shadow of Maziq standing before him and then slowly his figure became clear. Were his eyes deceiving him? Could it be that such a magnificent creature could have lost its enduring beauty? But by the ironic grace of God he had lost more. Shaitan could hardly understand the feelings swelling within. Were Shaitan human the feelings would be of disgust and absolute repulsion, so much so that he could not help but release a quick and whispered fright from his mouth. The figure before him stared back with darkness where eyes should have been. His ivory flesh, once pristine and without flaw, was now charred as scores of burnt tissue flaked and peeled. There had once been beautiful wings towering above his head, now there was only a single bone fractured and broken just above his left shoulder. Strands of flesh, dried and burnt hung from the protruding bone revealing what must be a terrible pain beyond anything a mortal man could withstand.
"Shaitan." Maziq spoke as if he understood the fear and disgust that Shaitan felt. "I am sure this will heal just as you will heal in time." Shaitan had been taken back by the words at first not even comprehending the very nature of what they revealed. Slowly the revelation occurred and if confusion could have been seen in the contorted and burnt face of Shaitan then it would have been the confusion and fear of a child who had just lost everything he had ever known or loved. As the realization took its grips within Shaitans mind it was quick to pass. Shaitan gathered himself and lifted his body off of the cavern floor. He tucked the pain, the fear, and the confusion away and replaced it with cold intent.
"Maziq, gather the others. Those that have healed enough to walk should gather up the less fortunate and bring them here. If this is to be our dominion then we will build an empire."
Maziq had done as he had been ordered and all of the fallen that could manage came to the place where Shaitan stood. Instead of a hushed whisper among the crowd there was the agonizing moan of pain sung out of chorus amongst them. For some the fall had been good, only burning their exteriors and stripping them of their wings. To others it had been far more relentless in its pursuit of punishment. The disfigurement and torture they endured would heal in time, but never to a semblance of what they had been in the past. Their grief would never heal and their minds may never mend.
Once they had all been gathered Shaitan spoke to them. His meek voice had been cured of its devastation. Though Shaitan had lost his divine spirit, it was replaced instead with a burning strength to take what God had forcefully willed upon him and build a formidable domain.
"I know all of you." Shaitans voice filled the depths. "Should you feel that it was through forceful departure that you arrived here know that it is by free will alone that you have come to be at this place. It is but a single ideal that has caused us to be cast from the heavens and it is this principle that unifies us together. It was the Fathers choice to grant his new children free will as well. Though he used our being, our essence and our shape to create his new brood he did not think it necessary to grant us power over them. And thus we united together under a single voice to ask that he do so and yet he turned us away and threw us from our heavenly posts. That voice was mine. So God has made me your King. King of this hole he calls Gehenna. The very idea of Gehenna and its existence is enough to make me wonder just what did God have planned? So, if Gehenna is to be our final home then we will build it up as such. It shall become a place that rivals the ivory pillars of heaven and as He has chosen to turn his back upon us, let the gates to Gehenna forever be open to those who come before them!"
There was no cry of victory from amongst the gathered but more a wrestling of agreement coming from the tattered group. Their wounds bore deep but were healing slowly. The speech carried on until at end, Shaitan and Maziq went among the injured and mustered together what few could help.
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Under the guidance of Shaitan, Maziq and the other angels began to build within the caverns. It took many days but soon a small municipal of black stone began to take shape out of the darkness. The subterranean gloom was breached by the shades of fiery red orbs of light that had been erected within the city. Pits of molten rock had been uncovered during the building and they served to further cast a red ambience to the city. A wall was built around the city to reduce the direct heat from the flaming burrows and a magnificent tower in the heart of it all was built standing three times the height of any other structure to be the ruling place of Gehenna.
While Gehenna was well underway Maziq went to talk with Shaitan about the Children of God. He stood in the streets of Gehenna staring at the base of the massive tower carved directly out of the rock rising from the cavern floor. The entrance to the tower located directly off the street had been engraved and chiseled to depict the fall. It was an eerie reminder to the angels but it invoked a strong sense of being for them now that their home was to be found in this crypt below the earth. As Maziq entered he heard a growl of warning from just beyond the darkness beyond what his eyes could pierce. The sound that guttered from the beast in the darkness bit into Maziq. It sequestered his mind for a moment as he reflected on the fall. The sound was of a Bahimiron.
There were already dark things in creation before the fall. These were things that did not exist outside the confines of the ethereal world but at the time of the fall, many angels had not only broken their shells but their spirits as well. When the spirit is truly broken it becomes an open door. In a man, these things may manifest as madness, mental disorder or inexplicable behaviors. In an angel, the madness also manifests itself physically. There were many such specimens of this "inhabitants" after the fall. During the work on Gehenna, Shaitan had these angels gathered and separated from those that had been spared the worse. During the construction of Gehenna a prison had been built to house them as their metamorphosis continued. Now they remained imprisoned until a use could be put to them.
Bahimiron became emaciated four legged creatures. They retained the likeness of an angel’s head yet their faces were contorted, their teeth elongated and crooked and their eyes set back in their sockets. They supported their thin bony torso using both arms and legs to crawl upon the ground. As some angels had regained their wings, in some shape or form, so had many of the Bahimiron. The shoulder blades that had once supported large plumed wings were now supporting massive folds of leathery skin, darkened and still spotted from the charred flames of the fall.
As Maziq walked toward a spiraling staircase the Bahimiron came forward into the red glow of a fiery orb suspended from the ceiling. It strained against a metallic brace cuffed around its neck pulling taught the chain that remained attached between it and the wall. Maziq continued up the steps.
He found Shaitan deep in thought, standing at the top of the tower staring out past the blackened city, gazing off at the fiery tint that emblazoned the surrounding walls. Before announcing himself, Maziq looked upon the fallen angel before him.
Although the decent from the heavens had stripped Shaitan of his beautiful wings of light, and the burning of his spirit had darkened his manner he was still beautiful to look upon. His spirit had hardened under the fall, and like flesh to a fire it had festered into small boils. However in the time it took to build Gehenna the scars of that punishment had left him leaving only intricate circular designs about his body and face that seemed to dance about where the old wounds had once been. His eyes, which had been a deep blue full of spirit, had darkened under the fall becoming a shade like purple midnight.
"What is within your thoughts Maziq?" Shaitan spoke, still looking out to the fiery heat that beat upon the walls like an ocean of flame.
"I am sorry Shaitan, I would not stare however your spirit looks so strange I have seen nothing like it before." He replied, worried that he had offended his Lord.
"Do not worry Maziq, it shall pass with time."
"No my Lord, It is quite intriguing and hypnotic. As you have seen the others here had not been so fortunate in their expulsion." Maziq looked down at his own hands where his pale spirit had blackened, crackled and scarred under the fall, and although the wounds had healed they left his once smooth spirit covered in vein-like blemishes.
"It is not enough punishment that the Lord cast me down from the heavens, but he saw fit as his last deed to spare me the worst of the pain and suffering upon my spirit, only to hasten it upon all those that had joined in flight with me. It seems his last gift to me was to fill the hearts of the fallen with jealousy at my being spared." Shaitan looked down at his own hands watching the blackened designs dance the dance of extinction. Each twist and turn of the stringy circular figures became marginally lightened until at some time in the near future his spirit would return to it’s smooth skin-like state it had always been.
"You will not find envy within my heart and I’ll see to it that the others understand." Maziq turned from Shaitan and cast his gaze upon the floor.
"Understand?" Shaitans voice was disturbed, "You think in time they’ll understand? You don’t think they look upon me and wonder why I haven’t changed like they have? Do you forget that it’s jealousy and envy that brought us to this place? It will plague me always. It is His way to keep doubt within their souls, and to help ulcerate my command. In time they will grow to resent me for what I am and that resentment will create mistrust and misplaced loyalty."
"I am sorry Shaitan, I did not mean to cause you anger over this. I had come to discuss the Garden." Maziq once again returned his eyes to Shaitan, looking at his flowing hair. "The winged ones have found the Garden as you had asked and returned. It would seem The Lord has let them stray about as they wish but he has lane a tangled path at their feet to keep them away from the Tree of Knowledge and has instructed them not to eat of it."
"What a game the most Heavenly Host dares play with his Children! It is a wonder that he would put amongst them the very fruits of Godliness." Shaitans attention diverted from the flames and focused on Maziq. The fall had done an injustice to his face and entire body. His eyes had turned the color of soot, the hairs upon his spirit having been burned away leaving just a rough disfigurement. His skin had taken on the color of carbon. "How dare he clothe his children in my Spirit! Send a messenger to the Garden and have him guide them to the Tree of Knowledge. Let him share the fruit of the Tree with them and once they have eaten of it, take them to the Tree of Life and do the same. If they are to be his children, let them be so for all eternity and let them shed their naïve unquestioning patronage."
"Yes my Lord, I shall send Nachash to the garden at once." He turned and left Shaitan up on the tower who had once again turned out to gaze at the flaming ocean, his thoughts dwelling upon the future.
Nachash entered the Garden astounded at the beauty it held. He could not begin to believe that a place of such beauty could exist in such a mundanely physical existence. It’s beauty paralleled the Heavens but only because he had become desensitized to it’s magnificence over time. The garden was truly alive, and took on a sentient personality of it’s own. As he walked through its foliage the flowers seemed to beckon at his presence and bloom wherever he cast his sight. A powerful yet pleasant scent maintained itself and just as he would become accustomed to it a new one even more succulent than before would take its place. He walked slowly through the garden, admiring it’s myriad of shapes, smells, and colors.
In the dense growth of a blossoming bed he waited for a moment, reflecting on the garden and remembering what it was like to be back in the city of the Heavens. He lost himself amongst those memories for how long he knew not, until a sound awakened him from his vision and he peered through the trees and garland and saw a wondrous form.
It stood as high as he, and was bathed in Spirit. Its eyes were the colors of a shifting rainbow and its shape, although similar to his own, was unknown to him. The hair on the creature flowed from its head reaching midway to the ground, flowing with ease around its form. The face of the creature was smooth and without fault, every curve accentuating the next. Though Nachash had never seen a body such as this, he knew it was the separation of duality, incarnate, the perfected half of that which God was whole and within him the fires of Gehenna burned as hatred and jealousy fueled them.
He spared the fluttering of his eye to maintain his scrutiny upon the creature. He was struck both in awe and disgust at its splendor. He watched as the creature moved toward him, unafraid for it knew no fear. It came to him and looked with as much intent and wonder. It lifted its hand and touched the face of Nachash, its spirit touching upon his and sparking a desire deep within his own being. He reminded himself of his duty to Samael and pushed its hand aside, walking a few steps away he turned back to face the being and asked "I have been sent by the Lord on High, I was instructed to show you all the garden, have you seen it?"
"Who are you?" It asked curiously, speaking as if it had just found a misplaced token.
"I am Nachash, Angel of the Lord, sent to show you all the garden. Might I ask what you are called?" The creature paused for a moment, reasoning being still a new faculty within its thoughts.
"I am Chavvah, wife of Adam and we have seen all of the garden except where we are not able to go. There is a wall of nature that surrounds the middle of the garden." Her words were short yet echoed in Nachash’s mind.
"Then you have seen all there is save the final gift that God has yet to bestow upon you, for beyond the wall are the two most precious fruits of the garden which my Lord has sent me to share of its bounty with you. If you will bring Adam to me I shall take you both."
Chavvah twisted her head in confusion before replying "But God has told us to stay away from the wall, for it is made with vines that are painful to the touch."
Nachash quickly replied, "My dear Chavvah that is because the fruit of the Trees were not ready to be eaten from. Now my Lord has sent me, for the fruit has ripened and should be consumed without haste. Now that all is ready I have been sent to show you the way. If you will please but show Adam to me I will take you both to the center of the garden, and there I shall eat with you the fruit from the Trees." Chavvah again stared at Nachash, and as he began to open his mouth and speak once more she turned and walked further into the garden. He sat motionless, his spirit vibrating with desire at the site of her, until her naked Spirit disappeared into the foliage. Even then, her memory stood before him allowing him to gaze upon her further.
It was then that he began to notice that which he had not seen before. The garden was alive with more than just succulent scents, exotic colors and wondrous plants; it was alive with all manner of creatures that he had not seen before. A smaller one flew through the air making a joyous noise, and landing upon the branch of a tree it watched Nachash curiously. He had never seen any such creature as this. It was much like the birds of the heavens, yet it had no true spirit, save the spirit of life within it. It’s brown feathers ruffled under the stroke of sunlight until it’s plume exploded into a vibrant array as it took flight. He saw what caused the bird to abandon its perch. Chavvah had returned with Adam.
It was strange, while Chavvah’s unknown body had struck an appetite within Nachash so did that of Adam. Strange because Adam looked spiritually no different than the many Angels which inhabited the heavens, lacking only the organs of flight. In fact, Adam looked much like the Angels that served under Samael but having still a pure Spirit being strong and well defined. His eyes were also as a spectrum of light and his hair was golden.
"I am Adam, created by God to rule the Garden. He has told us not to eat of the fruit of the Trees within the center of the garden, and yet my wife Chavvah, mother of all living things, has told me you have come to share the fruit of the Trees with us." Adam spoke, his voice soothed for he knew not fear, he knew not deceit.
"Of course you were to stay away from the Trees, for at the time the Lord on High would not have you eat of the fruit of its limb for it was not right for you to eat. It is now that my Lord has given me the task to take you through to the center of the garden and share with you it’s wonderful gift." Nachash was sinuous in his words yet Adam would have nothing to do with them. Instead he shook his, beckoned for his wife and left Nachash standing alone. Chavvah followed Adam deeper into the garden until both had left sight of Nachash. He stood there, not knowing where to take this problem of persuasion. He reasoned with himself to head out to the center of the garden, open a path to the trees and see them for himself.
Nachash stood before the walls that separated the rest of the garden from the two trees which inhabited its center. He reached into its thistled mass, allowing the thorny vines to scrape and pierce his Spirit. He plunged further into the brambles until at arms' length and then slowly withdrew. The blood of his spirit seeped from the wounds and where it touched upon the pointed tips it turned them black and brittle until a simple breeze could unravel the fragile shell it left behind. The blackness crept through the veins of the wall skirting out through it’s tangled mesh, turning from green, to brown and then black, until an entrance to the center of the garden had been forced upon it. The evidence of Nachash’s handy work swept away with a gentle breeze leaving but a clear opening to the two trees which stood in a small field that had previously been guarded.
Nachash stepped through the passage and walked forward into the small meadow. The humbleness of this central patch left him perplexed, for in all the garden’s beauty the center of it was quite plain. The grass grew around the edges of it’s perimeter yet quickly fell short, turning into a fine grain sand and finally giving way to a small silvery pool of water which reflected, like an opaque mirror, the world around it. In the center of the pool could be found the two trees, one the Tree of Knowledge and the other the Tree of Life. Under the reflective glance of the water the roots could be seen twined together, tapering off at the base of the pond. He moved closer to peer into it; seeing that not a single living thing swam within its life giving waters he then noticed what all manner of creatures see when looking at a mirror.
Nachash had seen the faces of the others as they worked feverishly on the city. He noticed their blackened eyes and darkening lips. He saw the shattered whelps upon their faces and he knew that he had not been spared as seemingly as Samael had, but the true pain of it had never set in. Their had never been a final act which sealed what he already knew until now. The eyes staring back at him, nearly without spirit and sunken low, revealed the truth he had not yet accepted. In a fit, he brought his right arm down with his fist crashing into the water. A tingling sensation took residence as he pulled it out.
"Hello?" He heard a voice from behind causing him to quickly rise and turn around. It was Chavvah, who had come through the entrance. She stood there before him and again he felt a desire deep within but the anger that had taken hold of him moments before had not left his body, and his mind quickly spinned into thoughts of vengeance. He composed his outer being and smiled at her.
"Have you come to share with me the Fruit from the Trees? I was just about to taste them myself, fearing that you would not be here. It would not suit my Lord to find that you wouldn’t take of this last gift from the garden." He turned back to the trees, reached into the air and with his left hand pulled down from the branches a shiny green sphere. He spun back around, biting deep into its mass and then offered its taste to her. Taking the fruit from his hand she brought it to her lips and before biting into it she spoke in a hushed voice, as if uttering about some profound discovery.
"Your hand." He inspected his left hand quickly seeing nothing but the tinted stain of fire and flame. He turned it over noticing nothing unusual or out of place until a minor irritation made him aware that she spoke not of his left hand but of his right. He lifted it up before himself and nearly fell to the ground in a daze. His right hand, in fact now his entire arm was in the process of a rapid change. The scarring of his hands had completely left him, the pale color of his spirit was slowly returning as the metamorphosis crept up his arm and onto his shoulder and was quickly spreading throughout and with the change, the fear, the anger, and the jealousy left his body. He turned lifted his head to look back at Chavvah yet she had gone. Turning back to the watery edge he peered once again at the surface and watched in exultation as his face returned to him. The hair spun quickly from its roots and returned in a vibrant mane of gold and brown and within moments blossoming over his reflection the glorious signature of Heaven’s Angels flexed in a large silken plume.
"Nachash!" The calling of his name brought fear back into his soul. It’s voice so familiar and haunting. Once again he stood up, turning to face the one that had called his name.
"Michael?" Before him stood a grand figure, the body of pure strength and Heaven’s fire. His wings stretched out and upwards cutting back in an arch to meet at the tips, the feathers blazing red in color and in his hands he held a flaming sword.
"You have taken flight against the Lord and for that you were cast out of heaven to reign as servant to Samael in the pits of the earth. Now you have betrayed the Children of the Lord and deceived them into eating of the Tree of Knowledge." The Angel Michael raised his sword before Nachash.
"I have lied to no one Michael! I never told her that God demanded she eat! She chose! She chose to eat of her own free will. I could not make her do it, I haven’t the power to"
"I’ll hear none of your deceptive ploy and I care not who chose what of their own free will! I have my own Lord and it is he that has commanded me to carry out my duties. If you had not so hastily chosen to follow Samael and his flight against the One true Lord than you would not be here, returning back to your previous glory only to lose it again." The words cut into Nachash, his eyes wide with fear. Trembling he felt the true power of Michael’s words ringing deep and in that moment he felt the wound of Michael’s sword sweep through his spirit. Nachash fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Michael spoke further, "I bring with me today not death, for you shall not perish under my feet. Instead the Sword of Truth has found its way deep and the pain you feel is the stinging agony that you shall bring to the heel of those who would crush you. You will remember always the pain and the fear, and so that you shall hurt none save those that would hurt you, you will crawl upon your stomach and eat from the dust of the world. You shall be known as a serpent, for wicked was your tongue and like your words it shall be split to warn others of your deceptiveness." Nachash’s body contorted on the ground, his wings simply fell to dust while his spirit turned to dark leathery scales. His eyes sunk further and turned back to their shiny blackness. His nose withered, as did his ears, and his legs became as one, his arms melting into his sides until still writhing back and forth, he slithered away from the feet of Michael into the garden.