Read In the Beginning (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book I) Online
Authors: John J. Higgins
In the Beginning (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book I) (11 page)
Raphael stepped back and saw a female of the species step forward to tend to the wounded Simian. She uttered what appeared to be her name as well, "Noriem," and took over the care of Guline. Raphael noticed that she had the courage to come up to the two Archangels while all the others stayed huddled towards the back of the cave, not daring to come any closer. Although he sensed fear from her, she was determined to assist her mate. Seeing that the Simian was in caring hands, Michael said to Raphael, "It's time to go!" Raphael nodded in agreement, and they decided to leave before they had further contact with any of them.
The less contact the better
, Michael thought.
Jarahmael was still hovering in front of the rest of the dinosaurs, the heat he was generating keeping them back. The dinosaurs were not giving up, screeching and tumbling into one another, and still trying to move forward even though they were now permanently blinded by his bright white light.
Michael flew up to assist Jarahmael. "What do you want to do about these dinosaurs?" Jarahmael asked as his wings flapped up and down slowly.
"I don't think they will be much danger any longer, as they can't see."
"But they can smell!" said Raphael, as he flew up and joined them.
"Those Simians in the cave did have some means of protecting themselves," Michael added, hoping not to get the three of them further involved.
"Yes, but it didn't seem to help them much, did it?" Raphael argued.
"All right, as much as I dislike having to destroy the rest of them . . . there is a molten pit of hot lava back there a bit. Let's drive them backwards into it," Michael said.
Raphael flew alongside Jarahmael on one side, and Michael did the same on the other side, all three radiating a wall of energy. The three white lights grew brighter and hotter as they moved slowly towards the five remaining dinosaurs. The dinosaurs had no choice but to move backwards from the radiation until one by one they fell into the churning molten pit, screaming as they hit the fiery lava.
Once the deed was done, the three Archangels moved the decapitated dinosaur carcasses and threw them in the pit. Once all the evidence of the attack was destroyed, the three Archangels flew back to the construction site and returned to hovering just on the protected inside of the wall of celestial fire.
Michael turned to them and said, "We cannot tell Luciferael about what happened here, at least not until I speak with the Almighty about it."
"We need to speak to the Almighty regardless, as these dinosaurs will kill off all the Simians if we are not careful," Raphael said, looking back at the cave through the wall of celestial fire.
Jarahmael added, "I think these dinosaurs won't let any other creature live safely on this planet. It's a limiting approach to the creation. I wouldn't discuss this with the other Archangels either. Especially Luciferael's Auxilium, they will tell him immediately."
"It's a good thing that Mephistophael is with Luciferael and the Potentates today. Beelzebael and the rest of the Auxilium are away from the Earth, too, assigned to the various Heavens by the Almighty along with the rest of our Archangels. So there is no way they will know about what happened today." Michael speculated aloud.
The other two Archangels were also relieved. They would not have to deal with Luciferael about this, at least for now. Jarahmael asked, "What should we do now?"
"Best to do the task assigned," Michael said. "Let's go find the other groups of Simians and see how they are doing."
"I hope there are no more attacks by these dinosaurs on the other groups," said Raphael.
The three Archangels took another few moments watching the work of the Angels assigned to the construction site, still in no hurry to leave.
"What did they name this place, by the way?" asked Jarahmael.
"It was named Aegyptus by Annabael, I believe. Not sure of the meaning of it though," answered Michael.
As the Angels from the other Orders were flying about, working and moving materials in the background, Michael, Jarahmael and Raphael flew off towards the north. Michael's instructions from the Almighty were to check on these Simians that had been placed all over the Earth. The Almighty wanted to know how these creatures were faring. Hopefully, they were more fortunate in surviving against the dinosaurs than the last group. As the three Archangels rose into the skies Michael wondered how he would explain what they had done to that band of dinosaurs
. Did the Almighty already know that there was a problem with mixing the two species? What will happen if Luciferael finds out the three of them destroyed some of his prized creatures?
Michael, Raphael, and Jarahmael returned to the Heavens after checking on the Simians, now dispersed around the Earth. They decided that they would not mention their counterattack on the dinosaurs to any of the other Archangels. None of them were sure how Luciferael would deal with it, and they agreed that Michael would try to see the Almighty before anything was said to anyone.
When they arrived in the Seventh Heaven, Jarahmael and Raphael headed to their mansions and Michael went directly to the Throne Room. As he arrived he saw the Almighty sitting on the Throne surrounded by his Seraphim and Throne Angels.
Michael hesitated as he flew into the entrance, but was quickly reassured when the Almighty spoke.
"Come in Michael."
"Thank you, my Lord. I was hoping that I would be able to get an audience with you. I did not expect you to be here waiting for me."
"I have been expecting you, My loyal Archangel."
"How did you know to expect me?" Michael said as he landed and bowed down low before the Almighty.
"I heard the cries of anguish from My Simians earlier today when they were attacked by the dinosaurs. You, Jarahmael, and Raphael made quite an impression upon them."
Unsure about how the Almighty would judge their actions, Michael answered, "My Lord, I apologize for all of us. I know we were commanded to stay out of sight, and I did my best to keep the three of us out of the way and observe, but we just could not stand by as the dinosaurs attacked those creatures."
"Yes, that's true that you were commanded to stay out of sight. But I also acknowledge that those were difficult circumstances and I appreciate your saving as many of the Simians as you could. I will be sure to thank Raphael and Jarahmael personally, after tomorrow's morning ceremony."
"I am afraid that lord Luciferael will be angered when he hears that we have destroyed some of his prize creatures. But my Lord, your Simians will never survive long on that planet with those predators. We need to separate them or destroy the dinosaurs, I am afraid."
"Separate or destroy them? Do you not think that they will somehow work it out?"
"No, my Lord. Those dinosaurs, at least the large predatory ones, are simply eating machines. They will eat anything they can, especially creatures smaller and not as ferocious as they are. In fact, from what I saw today, they probably would eat one another if there was nothing else around."
"What do you suggest then, Michael? That we simply destroy them, wipe them off the face of the Earth? Don't you think that Luciferael should have a chance to work with them to stop those attacks?"
"My Lord, I do not believe that they have enough intelligence that they can be trained to not do what is in their nature. Luciferael was more interested in making those creatures large and ferocious. He did not make them so they would get along with one another," Michael said.
"I would like to give Luciferael the opportunity to defend them. But I also don't want to create a problem among the Order of the Archangels by disclosing to Luciferael that you had destroyed some of his creatures to defend the Simians."
"In any event, my Lord, those creatures are a menace. I haven't seen them kill anything else, but after what I saw today, I imagine they have been killing off other warm blooded creatures that myself and some of the other Archangels have created."
"I do believe that there should be a fair resolution to this problem, Michael. Perhaps we should have the Angels in the Order of the Virtues come up with a solution. Aren't you and Sammuael designated to sit among them?" the Almighty asked.
"Yes, my Lord."
"That's perfect then. We will bring the problem out for discussion rather than keep it secret. You and Sammuael can lead the debate on whether to keep the dinosaurs or destroy them. Lord Luciferael can join in the debate if he likes. We will all abide by whatever decision is reached.
"For now, go and rest. It was a long and trying day for you, Michael. I am proud of you for assisting the Simians. I may want to give you another major assignment, but for now it's too soon. I will see you in the morning. Good night."
"Thank you, my Lord," Michael answered as he backed away from the Almighty, turned and took off flying as he left the Throne Room on the way to his own mansion to rest for the night.
The next morning everything was calm and there was no indication that Luciferael or his Auxilium had heard about Michael's attack on the dinosaurs.
Luciferael was in great spirits, as he had been basking in the inner core of a star the day before with the Potentates. They all glowed exceptionally bright this morning, as did Luciferael, Mephistophael, and Jarahmael.
Abrackus pulsated more brightly when he caught Jarahmael's gaze as the Archangel flew down to his seat nearer to the Almighty's Throne. It appeared that they had become friends from their experience a couple of days before. Michael noted that Jarahmael had the ability to make friends with Angels of the other Orders quite easily. He was friends now with Abrackus of the Potentates, Cerebriel of the Cherubim, and Annabael of the Principalities.
The morning ceremony began as usual and went along smoothly. Michael, Jarahmael, and Raphael had mixed feelings over what was going to come next. On one hand, they were glad that they had done the right thing in protecting the Simians the day before, but they also did not look forward to Luciferael's reaction to the news. The Almighty began the topic by asking Michael, Jarahmael, and Raphael to stand before the Assembly of Angels.
"Here before you, my beloved Beings of Light, are three Archangels that did an outstanding deed yesterday," the Almighty said.
Michael looked out upon the Assembly and could have sworn he felt the eyes of Luciferael burn into him as the Almighty was applauding him and the other two Archangels. But he dared not look at Luciferael at the moment.
"They did something heroic. I had assigned them to make sure that creatures involved in My latest experiment were doing fine on the Earth."
The Assembly of Angels was used to the Almighty experimenting with the Creation, so there was no excitement over that statement.
"While the three of them were on the Earth, they arrived and remained hidden, as it is My standing command when dealing with these new creatures that I have named the Simians. They are two legged creatures similar to you, but only a step above the warm blooded animals that live on the planet, with a bit more intelligence than the animals there."
Michael could see Beelzebael and Sammuael whispering between themselves, looking up at Michael, Jarahmael, and Raphael.
The Almighty continued, "The Simians that they were sent to watch were suddenly attacked by a band of dinosaurs, right in front of the three of them."
A murmur passed through the Assembly, which Michael thought was a good sign.
"Then without regard for themselves or anything else, Michael flew in to fend off the attack, and Jarahmael held the attackers back with his radiance. Unfortunately, two of the Simians had been eaten by the dinosaurs and another one badly injured. Raphael flew over to the injured one and helped heal him. By the time the whole event was over, all of the dinosaurs in the attacking group were destroyed."
There was a groan from the Auxilium, but not another sound from the rest of the Assembly.
Great,
Michael thought to himself.
Now the Auxilium will be angry with me. But at least the other Orders of Angels do not have any strong sentiments to protect the dinosaurs.
"Michael and the others," the Almighty continued, "have raised the point that the dinosaurs may pose a danger to many of the other larger life forms on the Earth. They may have to be separated from the rest of the creatures on the planet or even destroyed."
Again there was a groan from Luciferael's Auxilium despite Luciferael not showing any emotion over this discussion.
"I have decided that the Order of Virtues should have discussions about the alternatives in this matter and develop a solution. Michael will attend to present his point of view and I also suggest Sammuael to represent Luciferael's point of view, if that meets with Luciferael's approval, as I know he is very busy in continuing the Creation at the edges of the Universe."
Sammuael rose immediately as if to object, and then, on second thought, remained silent as he looked over at Luciferael for guidance. Luciferael showed no emotion and responded calmly, "Sammuael is a good choice, my Lord, and he has my every confidence in presenting my point of view in the matter."
It looked to Michael as though Luciferael had an inner meter to measure the mood and position of the Assembly of Angels, and it was not in favor of the dinosaurs. Luciferael continued, "And I apologize if the dinosaurs have done anything destructive, my Lord, to your experiment called the Simians."
The Almighty was pleased with Luciferael's reaction and comment. "There is no need to apologize, My dear Luciferael. The dinosaurs are magnificent creatures; we just have to decide about how to proceed to develop other life forms on the planet. I am certain you will cooperate with all the means at your disposal."