In the Beginning (Archangel Jarahmael and the War to Conquer Heaven, Book I) (24 page)

It was dark when Beelzebael and Mephistophael flew out of Luciferael's palace. The two Archangels dropped down through the Heavens to find their way to Eden. Mephistophael looked over at Beelzebael and thought to himself that Angels had never flown at night before. He could see Beelzebael had a slight grin on his face as the wind blew his blonde hair backward. At first he had a twinge of fear, but as he continued to fly he felt empowered. They were Beings of Light, created to conquer the ever present background of darkness in the Universe. Facing the blackness was quite freeing and the night's slightly cooler air created a new experience for them, a special alertness.

"Exhilarating, isn't it!" Beelzebael yelled over to Mephistophael.

"Yes, flying at night feels different, cooler, and not as dangerous as I first thought," responded Mephistophael. "We actually seem to be flying faster than during the day and the lack of light is not a problem at all!" he yelled back.

Beelzebael turned over on his back as he flew, performing a corkscrew maneuver, enjoying the freedom of the cooler, thicker atmosphere.

Mephistophael smiled, watching Beelzebael experiment and enjoy himself. He then mimicked the maneuver himself and then added a move where he moved his body like a porpoise in water. Laughing, he called over to his friend, "This really is a lot of fun, we need to do this more often!"

There were no lights on the ground when they landed in Eden. The Garden was not totally dark as all of the Heavens did have a slight glow to them. The Archangels could easily function as they were not limited to visible light like the Humans were, they could see all ranges of light and radiation. But just to be sure, they were cautious at first, moving carefully, tucking their wings neatly against their backs. They were not sure if they were the only Beings up and moving around at night here in Eden.

"No one around that I see," whispered Beelzebael to Mephistophael.

"Let's be careful just the same," responded Mephistophael looking carefully about. "Just because we don't know much about the night doesn't mean there aren't other creatures that do!"

"Understood, but we are immortal, I've never heard of anything that can harm us," said Beelzebael a bit more boldly as he puffed his chest out.

"True but we do not wish to be discovered. Remember we are here to surprise and capture Lillith. Let's not give our position away and lose her," Mephistophael whispered back.

Mephistophael thought again to himself.
Why shouldn't they be out at night?
Well, maybe it wasn't an issue. It had never been actually prohibited; in fact, he couldn't think of anything that was prohibited when it came to any of the Angels. Nothing like this had ever been discussed before or any advice sought from the Almighty or with the Order of the Virtues. He had to snap his mind back to their mission. They were there to capture Lillith and bring her back to Luciferael before Jarahmael could find her and return her to the Almighty. Neither of them wanted Jarahmael to beat them to it and to fail Luciferael's command.

The two Archangels had landed by some of the trees near the pyramid, so they would not be easily seen. They moved forward quietly now, creeping towards the opening of the pyramid on its eastern side. The casing stones placed over the building blocks of the pyramid reflected a white glow all around the structure.

"Keep a close eye out for Cherubim Angels, they have been working closely on this pyramid," whispered Beelzebael as he ran up the steps to the entrance of the pyramid.

Mephistophael looked carefully about as he followed Beelzebael closely up the steps.

Once inside they both breathed a sigh of relief.

In front of them they saw a long hallway with various passage ways along the side. They were both struck by the fact that the walls were speaking to them as they walked down the hallway, describing the events of creation. Events that they were quite familiar with.

"Strange that the Almighty would bother to have the walls explain the Creation to anyone passing through the halls and passageways here," commented Mephistophael.

"Yes, why would He allow all this knowledge to be so easily accessible to the Humans?" questioned Beelzebael aloud.

"We definitely need to discuss this with Luciferael to see what he thinks about it. But it surely appears that these Humans are being treated better than we are!" Mephistophael whispered back angrily.

"All these passageways on the sides lead to dead ends," Beelzebael said as he looked down the corridors.

"I see that too, Beelzebael," Mephistophael said as he peered down one that was particularly long.

"These passageways have pictures of other locations. Maybe some form of map of the other pyramids?" Beelzebael speculated.

"It looks like all of them so far are on the planet Earth," responded Mephistophael.

"Do you recall seeing pyramids such as this when we were destroying the dinosaurs?" asked Beelzebael.

"No, but I was not looking for them either. It would not surprise me that the Almighty has had large groups of Angels working on these structures during the day, subdividing the Angels into crews that can expedite the formation of new pyramids. These must be additional efforts made by the Almighty that have not been discussed or disclosed to Luciferael or the rest of us," Mephistophael responded, his voice indignant. "It appears that this is one more thing where all of Luciferael's Auxilium have been kept in the dark!"

"Come, let's finish looking through this pyramid, see if Lillith has found a place to hide here," said Beelzebael.

As they continued further they came upon a great hall in the center of the pyramid. Shafts had been cut through the ceilings that extended to each of the outside faces of the pyramid hundreds of feet away. Starlight came through the shafts, brightening the interior of the grand hallway. The letters of the words throughout the walls of the great hall glowed still and shed more light into the room where the Archangels were standing. The two Archangels proceeded to look through the tunnels that went underground and wound up on the other side of the pyramid.

After the two Archangels spent hours searching through all the shafts and passageways Mephistophael concluded: "I don't see any other places to search here."

"I agree, Lillith is not here," Beelzebael responded, disappointment in his voice.

"Jarahmael may have already found her," Mephistophael responded. "Or perhaps she has found another place to hide."

"Maybe that Serpentalia creature had it wrong, but I think Sammuael took over the creature's mind when he interrogated him," Beelzebael said.

"Or Lillith may have found her way out of the pyramid undetected by using one of these passageways," said Mephistophael.

"Come, it's getting late. Sunrise will be here soon. Let's return to Luciferael's palace and tell him what we have found," said Mephistophael, now in a low voice. "Or what we have not found."

Beelzebael responded, "Not to worry. We did what we could, the Almighty keeps changing things without our knowledge or input. So we never know what to expect anymore when we are trying to complete our missions."

"Time to go," said Mephistophael as they slipped out of the pyramid and took off, flying into the darkness of the night.