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"What shall the game be this time, Nephilim?" Leviathan asked, obviously expecting their conflict to

resume.

Aaron shook his head, gazing up into the face of the horrific nightmare that was Leviathan. "No games,"he told the beast. He held up his empty hands to the behemoth, showing the monstrosity that they wereempty of weapons. "I can't fight you anymore."

Leviathan laughed, a horrible, rumbling gurgle. "How sensible of you, Nephilim," it said, tentacles

squirming in the air with anticipation.

Aaron stood beneath the monster and spread his arms in a show of surrender. His body was still rackedwith pain as he tried to contain the furious forces that fought desperately to emerge and to defend itself;but he held it back, for it was not yet time.

"Take me," he told the wormlike creature that had existed since the dawn of time.

And Leviathan entwined him in its clutches, pulling him up toward its hungry mouth. "I shall use yourpower well," it said, staring at him with its cold, unblinking eyes, viscous saliva beginning to pour from itscircular orifice to run down the length of its black, glistening body.

"Eat me," Aaron shouted. "And I hope you choke!" he added as the muscular appendages shoved him

into its gaping maw, and he was swallowed up whole.

The first thing that Aaron noticed was the unbelievable stench. It stank even worse on the inside. Herecalled the putrid aroma of a single mouse that had died in the kitchen wall of theStanley house, and howhe had thought nothing could smell as bad.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

He would rather have been wearing the dead rodent around his neck as jewelry for the rest of his lifethan endure the overwhelming stench of Leviathan's insides.

If it wasn't for the thick lubricating fluids that flowed upon him as the muscular throat of the beastcontracted, sending him down toward its stomachs, there was the chance that the aroma of the monster'sinternal workings could very well have rendered him unconscious.

The excretions of Leviathan's digestive system were beginning to have their effects upon him also. Hisskin burned, and he felt a wave of undeniable fatigue attempting to purge the fight from his spirit. Even theangelic presence became increasingly docile, and Aaron knew that it would soon be time to put his planinto effect.

The interior of the beast gurgled and spat as it moved his mass through a series of powerful, muscularspasms—down what Aaron believed to be its esophagus—on his way to one of the still remainingdigestive sacks hanging from Leviathan's body. It was getting difficult to breath, and he felt his eyes growheavy. Aaron wrestled with the idea of taking a bit of a nap before continuing with his course of action,but thought better of it, remembering the fate of the angelic beings that had been food for the great evil.

Perversely enough, the trip down the monster's gullet reminded him of one of those amusement parkwater slides as he attempted to bend his body in such a way that he could see where he was going. Itwas black as pitch withinthe monster's stomach, and Aaron managed to summon a ball of fire andmaintain it as he continued his twisting journey to the belly of the beast. Half of him wished he didn't needthe source of light, for the insides of a creature of chaos was not the most pleasant of places to see.

There was an abrupt turn in the food tube, and Aaron suddenly found himself about to be depositedwithin one of the remaining digestive organs. This was not part of his plan, and he summoned a knife offire, stabbing it into the fleshy wall of the digestive passage, halting his progress. He felt his surroundingsroil, and knew he had caused the great beast discomfort.The son of a bitch doesn't yet know the meaningof the
word,
 
he thought, releasing his hold upon the power within him—and even though moremanageable than it had been before he was eaten, it took full advantage of a chance for freedom. If his

plan was successful, Leviathan would have much more to worry about than simple discomfort.

An incredible surge of energy coursed through his fluid covered body, and he felt his lethargyimmediately burned away. He positioned himself within the stomach passageway and unfurled his wingsas far as he possibly could; still holding on to the knife blade that acted as an anchor, preventing him frombeing pulled further into Leviathan's stomach. Now wielding the full extent of his latent power,

Aaron conjured an awesome sword of heavenly fire, illuminating his nauseating environment— andimmediately began to put his plan in motion.

He was about to show Leviathan the disastrous effects of eating something that did not agree with it.

If it were capable, the beast Leviathan would have smiled.

As it swallowed down its latest morsel, a wave of contentment passed through the monster the likes ofwhich it had never experienced. Leviathan could feel the pulse of the Nephilim's power within it, andknew that this source of strength would be what would finally allow it to emerge from its prison of rock,and claim the world above as its own.

It watched the others that had once been part of its nourishment, the angelic creatures, useless husks,drained and sprawled about on the floor of its prison, and realized that none had made it feel as gloriousas it did now. The spawn moved excitedly beneath their parent's protective scales, sensing that it wouldsoon be time to leave the cave and emerge out into the world, where its reign would commence.

It imagined that the Creator, in all His infinite wisdom, would send others to smite him— soldiers of theheavenly realm—that would all meet a similar fate as those who had comebefore. With the Nephilim'sstrength, there was nothing that could stop Leviathan from recreating the world in his own likeness.

Sated by the mere promise of new angelic energies, Leviathan prepared itself for the transforming influxof power that would soon awash it. It leaned its colossal, wormlike bulk against the cave wall andimagined what was next in its future. After countless millennia, it had the means to be free. The denizen ofthe depths would send its spawn out of the cave, to the settlements beyond, bringing the inhabitants, nowunder its control, to Blithe. Now it would have the substantial numbers and tools needed to be liberatedfrom its rocky prison.

And then its work would begin.

The monster fantasized of a world transformed—sculpted as a representation of its own chaotic nature. It saw a place covered with churning seas, most of the landmasses swallowed up by volcanic upheaval,the skies gone black from volumes of ash expelled into the atmosphere to blot out the hated sun. And allthe life upon the new world, that teemed upon what was left of the blighted land, and swam beneath thedark, ocean depths, would praise its name in worship.

"Leviathan,"it imagined they would proclaim.
"How blessed we are that you have touched us
with your

resplendent glory. Praise be the Lord of the
deep, hallowed be thy
—"

It felt a sharp twinge of pain in the lower internal regions of its mass, a burning sensation that seemed tobe growing. The monster removed itself from the wall where it had reclined, its head scraping the roof ofthe undersea cavern as it rose.

"What is this?" it asked in a sibilant whisper full of shock and surprise as the discomfort intensified.

"What is happening?"

Never had it experienced such agony; it was as if there was a fire raging within its body—
but how isthat possible?
it wondered. The heat of its pain was intensifying, the blistering warmth expanding up fromthe nether regions of its serpentine trunk to spread throughout.

"This cannot be happening," Leviathan exclaimed as the first of the remaining digestive sacks exploded, the fluids contained within brought to a boil from the raging internal temperatures of its body. Leviathan moaned in agony, powerless to act. Another of the sacks ruptured, spraying the walls in a bubbling stream—followed by another, and then another.

The monster swooned, its pain-racked form crashing into the rocky surface of the cave walls. Thespawn, normally protected beneath its armor of scales, rained down to the cavern floor, scamperingabout in frenzied panic—driven to madness by the pain of their progenitor.

Leviathan wanted nothing more than to flee its prison, to have an opportunity to show theCreator that it,too, had a reason to exist. In its fevered thoughts it saw the glimpses of a paradise of its own designfading quickly away. It saw the black, roiling oceans full of life that it had helped reconfigure—a world ofchaos that looked upon it as God and Master.

"It would have been magnificent," Leviathan moaned as the sword of fire erupted from the center of its

body—and something that burned like a star emerged from the smoldering wound.

chapter twelve

Camael slowly removed himself from the ruptured digestive organ and gazed about his foreignsurroundings with a cautious eye.

While trapped within the prison he was made to believe that he had found the angelic paradise that was Aerie—and all the centuries of isolation and conflict he experienced had come to an end. The prophecyhad occurred: The fallen angels of Earth forgiven by Heaven. It was bliss.

As he looked around the subterranean cave, the reality of the situation was driven painfully home. Hehad not found Aerie, and where he now stood was the farthest fromParadise any angel could possiblybe.

A mournful wail rose in intensity, reverberating around the cavern, awakening the angel further to hisenvironment. Camael turned to seethe monster Leviathan in what appeared to be the grip of torture. Thesea behemoth thrashed, its body viciously pounding off of the cave walls as it shrieked in pain.

A sword of fire grew in his hand, a caution in case he should need to defend himself.

"He is accomplishing what we could not," said a voice nearby, and Camael turned to the Archangel

Gabriel, withered and wane, leaning back against the stone wall.

Camael bowed his head, recognizing the angel for what and who he was. "Of whom do you speak, greatone?" Camael asked, returning his attentions to the flailing beast.

"The Nephilim," the desiccated emissary of Heaven whispered. "The latest messenger of God."

"Aaron," Camael gasped as Leviathan continued its dance of agony. He watched awestruck as the skin

of the beast smoldered, the protrusions that dangled obscenely from the monster's front, and of which he

had been captive within, exploding, their contents spraying the air with a steaming mist.

"It would have been magnificent," he heard the creature of nightmare rattle as a weapon of fire suddenly tore through its midsection, and a warrior angel—, one he first bore witness to only a few weeks ago—, stepped from the gash in what seemed a mockery of birth.

He was about to call out to the Nephilim, but something stayed his tongue. Camael observedthehalf-breed, the offspring of angel and human, and was startled, and perhaps even a little concerned bywhat he saw.

The Nephilim jumped from the wound in the sea beast's stomach, his black-feathered wings flappingfuriously, attempting to dry away the internal fluids that stained their sleek ebony beauty. In his hand heheld a sword of fire—a weapon so fierce that it could rival those carried by the elite soldiers of Heaven. This was not the newly born being of angelic power that erupted to life mere weeks ago to avenge lovedones viciously slain, Camael observed. This was something all together different.

Camael watched as the transformed youth rose into the air before the agonizing beast, his mighty wingsbeating the air, lifting him to hover before the face of his enemy.

Leviathan lashed out at the Nephilim, its whiplike tentacles attempting capture, but falling upon empty air,the angel's movements were so swift.

"Damn you," Leviathan roared, its thick, green life stuff draining out from the gaping stomach wound to

pool upon the cave floor. "Damn you—and the master you serve."

Aaron hovered before the snarling face of the beast, sword poised to strike, and Camael marveled at thesight of it.

"Got a message from the big honcho upstairs," Camael heard the Nephilim cry as hebrought the flaming

blade down in a powerful arc aimed at Leviathan's head. "You're dead."

The fire blade cleaved through the incredible thickness of the sea beast's skull with a resounding
crack
 
—the majority of the fearsome weapon buried deep within its monstrous cranium. It thrashed wildly in afutile attempt to dislodge the flaming weapon, but then grew impossibly still.

Aaron withdrew the sword and held it proudly above his head, powerful wings beating, holding himaloft. A fearsome cry of victory filled the air, and Camael stared in awe as the gigantic body of theancient sea deity began to burn. The first flames shot up from Leviathan's head wound in a geyser oforange fire, the ravenous heat spreading down the length of the monster's enormity—its scaled flesh,muscle, and bone food for the heavenly flames.

Aaron flew down to the cave floor just as the monster's body collapsed in a gigantic pyre of smolderingash, and strode menacingly toward Camael. The spawns of Leviathan scrambled about the cave floor,their shells aflame—the final remnants of the ancient sea monster left alive—but not for long.