Rise of the Beast (15 page)

His lines of communications with his global partners, his minions cast out of the great war in Heaven, had also been reestablished via the World Wide Web. They worked tirelessly to invest the gold they had brought from Heaven. They invested in stocks, bonds, commodities, and, of course, Lusan’s ministry. Soon, he would turn the world of humans upside down.

His mind returned to Serena. He would have his way with her in time, only in time. He would enjoy sweet vengeance. He could not send her back to his kingdom to resume her service of agony, but perhaps he could make her suffer here on Earth. For the moment, he would put the issue of Serena Farnsworth aside and concentrate on more pressing matters, but her day was coming.

C
HAPTER
6

Sam Florence felt a sense of motion, of acceleration. He opened his eyes to find himself hurtling through cool, damp mists. Then he burst forth from a bank of billowing clouds to behold a starry sky. Yet, the sky was also filled with dancing, auroral light that took on many different forms and colors. He must have been 20,000 feet up, at least, but he didn’t feel cold. Nor did he seem to be having any trouble breathing. Was he actually breathing at all? He thought so, but he just wasn’t sure. He stretched out his hand only to discover that he could see the thin crescent moon right through his palm. He was practically transparent. Now he was freaked out. If this was a dream, it was like none other. It was so incredibly real.

A minute later, he passed through the shifting curtain of aurora at the very top of the atmosphere. He looked behind him to see the receding Earth, the aurora and the light of its many cities were a thing of beauty. He was like a spirit, free of the limitations of his natural body, hurtling into the universe.

It was then that a terrible thought crossed his mind. Was he even still alive? Had he somehow died in his sleep, only to begin life’s final journey? In his mind, he reviewed his life and the choices he had made. One of those was to place his faith in Jesus Christ when he was only 15. It was a faith that he’d never abandoned. He felt a confidence in his salvation, in his Savior. If this was the end, he was at peace about it.

In a flash of light, the scene changed. He was traveling amidst tenuous
streams of colorful mists. Where was he? How had he gotten here? To his left and below, he saw a sort of intense beam of light surrounded by swirling clouds and raging bolts of lightning. It seemed to stretch out into infinity before him. He was both mesmerized and frightened by this otherworldly display of raw power. Even from here he could feel its powerful, electric presence. Thankfully, he wasn’t moving toward it, but rather parallel to it. For several minutes his path followed it. Then it seemed to end abruptly before him. Again the scene changed.

Sam found himself with his feet planted firmly on the ground once more. He was relieved to find that he had taken on a physical form again. He now stood upon a very real, barren, rocky hill overlooking a black sea with tongues of fire leaping from its turbulent surface. It was like a scene from Dante’s Inferno. Yet it wasn’t hot here; indeed, it was rather cool. In the distance, over the terrible sea, a towering thunderhead, alive with blue bolts of electricity, cast a rain of glowing blue light and gray mist to the sea below.

He turned his attention to the sky overhead; it was dark and cloudless, yet not a single star graced that blackness. However, the air itself held a pungent odor of sulfur compounds, sulfur dioxide, he thought. It was not present in lethal concentrations, but it definitely made its presence felt.

It was then that Sam turned his attention to the storm once more. He noticed the color of the storm clouds. They weren’t white, but faintly yellow. Again he looked at the sheets of glowing rain and he understood. He’d been a chemistry major for three years before turning to astronomy. “Oh my God, it’s a storm of sulfuric acid droplets, not water. It’s raining burning pellets of sulfur and sulfuric acid. Where am I?”

“I think you know the answer,” said a voice to Sam’s left.

Sam turned to see a winged being, dressed all in black, who stood well over six feet tall. His mighty wings were like those of a great raven, his face smooth and without blemish. He had a short beard and his deep brown eyes seemed to look right into Sam’s soul. He was an angel of some kind, not a demon, of that much Sam was certain, though he had never quite pictured one looking this way. Sam might have been truly terrified had it not been for the kind face and the aura of this being. He had an aspect of peace and kindness about him.

“Don’t be afraid, son of God,” said the dark being, “for it has been appointed unto you to understand what has happened and what is to come.” The angel pointed to Sam’s right.

Sam turned to see the great vortex of swirling vapors. It looked like multicolored liquid swirling down into a dark drain. A strong wind blew into the great abyss, spiraling into its depths, carrying dust and sand with it. The great storm over the sea also seemed to be drawn inexorably toward this otherworldly corridor.

“Tell me, son of God; what do you see?” said the angel.

For a moment, only silence answered his query. Then Sam spoke. “What do I see? I don’t know. Crazy as it all sounds, I see a rip in space, a wormhole.”

“Yes, continue,” bid the angel. “Where does that corridor lead?”

“Well, that thing isn’t a black hole; it doesn’t lead to the crushed remnants of a dead star. It leads to Earth. Wait, this all makes sense. This must be the thing that caused a burst of powerful radiation that lit up the night skies for days last year. No one had ever seen the likes of it. But eventually it ended. This wormhole was closed somehow.”

“Yes it was,” confirmed the angel.

There was a brilliant flash of light from the heart of the swirling vortex, and in a moment, it dissipated, leaving fading eddies of dust.

Sam shook his head. “How does a thing like that get started? Physicists have theorized about their existence. They don’t violate the laws of physics, but no one has ever figured how to create one.”

The angel nodded approvingly. “Know this, beloved son of God. This rip in space, this wormhole, as you call it, was a consequence of a great war between Hell and Heaven. In war, desperate and not-so-well-thought-out actions can often lead to unforeseen calamities. So it was in this war. In an attempt to defeat Satan’s forces, certain well-meaning saints of Heaven accidentally created this thing that you saw. It was through a cooperation between both sides that disaster was averted—a disaster that would have consumed both Hell and Earth in total destruction.”

“You mean to say that saints, people redeemed by the blood of Christ, worked with Satan to close this rent in space time?”

“No, not with Satan,” corrected the dark angel. “One could not work with him. He is simply too vile. But they did work with certain of his minions without his knowledge, minions who realized what was to be lost if they did not cooperate.”

“Then this place, the place where I’m standing, is Hell?” gasped Sam, who finally gave voice to what he’d already suspected.

“Yes, a small part of it,” confirmed the dark angel. “But don’t be afraid, you are in no danger, I assure you.”

Again Sam looked about into this dark realm of desolation illuminated only by the fiery sea. “Somehow I hadn’t quite pictured Hell as looking like this.”

“Most people don’t,” replied the angel. “They think of hot claustrophobic caverns filled with the screams of the damned. There are places like that here, but there are places like this as well.” The angel pointed to a range of mountains further to their right. “It might be pleasantly cool here, but a hundred miles beyond those mountains, the climate is like your continent of Antarctica, a climate that lends itself to a multitude of cruel ordeals for those souls so unfortunate as to call this place their eternal home. Hell is a realm as vast and diverse as your own Earth, just not as pleasant.”

“You said something about a war,” said Sam. “You mean there are wars beyond life, in Heaven and Hell?”

“Yes,” confirmed the angel. “It was Satan himself that precipitated this war, a war that stretched from the barren plains of Hell, to the beautiful meadows of Heaven.

“It was his desire for accolades, his desire to dwell at the center of God’s universe, second only to God, that led him to plunge us into war. The War in Heaven was fought on a scale that you can hardly conceive of, with weapons that would stretch your imagination. It involved angels and saints, demons, and damned souls, but the forces of Heaven prevailed, barely. Satan was driven out of Heaven, but he was not vanquished, not completely. Now the conflict has spilled over to Earth. Earth shall be the final battlefield.”

“Do you mean that there will be demons and angels fighting here on Earth, clashing swords, or whatever they do in war?” asked Sam.

The angel shook his head. “Not at first. Satan hopes to win the hearts and minds of humanity with his slick tongue. He hopes to confuse them, lead them away from the path of salvation that God’s only Son provided.”

“But hasn’t he been doing that all along?” asked Sam.

“Yes,” confirmed the angel, “but not like this. This shall be the final falling
away, and Satan shall see to it personally. Those he cannot lure away, he will destroy. Those who openly oppose him will be eliminated with great prejudice. He will bring a season of darkness upon your world the likes of which humanity has never seen. Even now, his work has begun.”

Then Sam understood. At least, he thought he did. “The comet—it’s his doing, isn’t it? We’re not going to be able to stop it.”

“No, son of God, the comet is not his doing. On the contrary, it might be his undoing. He tried to prevent you from discovering it, but the angels were watching over you, protecting you. He even tried to kill you, but his plan was defeated. You may be certain that he holds you in great contempt, and now he walks among humanity, right there on your green Earth.”

Sam had done his best to remain calm up to this point. Nonetheless, he was pretty shook up. “OK, so what am I supposed to do? Answer me that one?”

The angel placed his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “You do what you have done all along, place your faith in the Father and His Son. But there is something else. There is a person, a woman, who can help you. There are many who claim to have had divine visions of Heaven and Hell, but only a few of those visions are true. There is one on Earth who spent nearly a year in Satan’s realm, one who understands the master of lies like none other. It is to her that I am sending you. She shall help you stand in this trying day.”

Sam considered who that might be. He’d read a book or two about people who had experienced the dark realm beyond life. Somehow, most of their stories never quite rang true to him. There were just too many flaws in the web of logic they tried to spin. They certainly sounded sincere, but might they have been nothing more than vivid dreams? No doubt, people would say the same thing about him if he told them where he had just been.

“In reality, your paths shall cross naturally,” continued the angel. “Her name is Serena Davis.”

Serena Davis—that name rang a bell with Sam. He’d heard of her all right. Like so many others, she’d written a book about her experience, though he had never personally read it.

“Tell her what you have seen this night,” continued the angel. “She will believe you. Remind her of the purple roses sent to us from Heaven, the ones that had no thorns. Tell her that I still have them in my garden to remind me of her and our time together.”

“I don’t understand,” said Sam.

“You will,” assured the angel, turning to leave.

“But wait,” said Sam, “who shall I say sent me? What is your name?”

The angel turned toward Sam once more. He smiled, though slightly. “Tell her that Abaddon sent you.”

The angel vanished into what looked like a starry mist, leaving Sam standing alone upon the hilltop. A sound of thunder caught his attention. He gazed out at the pale yellow clouds of the thunderstorm coursing with lightning. The storm was growing closer even as winds laden with the smell of sulfur compounds kicked up the dust around him.