Rise of the Fallen (12 page)

Studying Persimus’s eyes, Validus realized that his friend felt something different. Worry creased his brow. Of the original four friends, Persimus was both blessed and cursed with a tender heart.

Validus put a hand on Persimus’s shoulder. “Keep heart, Persimus. Cadriel is one of the best warriors in all three realms.”

Together Validus and Persimus had watched their brave friend fight in countless battles, his sweat-soaked hair tossing from side to side, accentuating each thrust and cut of his blade against terrible foes. Though an angel of beauty, there was nothing weak about Cadriel. He was as fierce a warrior as Validus had seen. Three hundred thousand warriors had entered the battle for earth, and Cadriel was one of the last eighty-two.

“Would you go to earth if you could?” Persimus asked.

Validus thought of the dire situation his friend and other brothers of the Warrior Order faced on the earth below. “Yes, I would.” Validus took a deep breath. “And you?”

Persimus looked into Validus’s eyes, smiled, then looked out to the lush green hills and valleys of heaven. “I think earth rubs off on them. They sweat, they bleed, they don’t even fly. It seems to me the more they live among men, the more they become like them.”

Validus turned to look at the hills and nodded. He wondered what that felt like. He could not deny being drawn to taste the physical world Elohim had created. There was something alluring about it. He had watched one of the Fallen translate into the form of a man and not translate back, even to his own peril. The Fallen seemed obsessed with the sensations of the physical world, unable to detach until they teetered at the point of devolution.

“But would you go?” Validus asked again.

“I don’t know.” Persimus looked back at Validus. “To face the ruthless swords of the Fallen and confront beasts like we just saw? I just don’t know.”

“I don’t blame you, Persimus. There are so many things I don’t understand. Why does Elohim allow Apollyon to continue … even to the point of the annihilation of His beloved creation? Sin has so contaminated and corrupted all of creation that He is going to destroy it. The world groans in agony of the sin in its veins. Why?”

Persimus shook his head. “I—”

“And what of the mystery of the Plan?” Validus interrupted. “How can even Elohim purify the filthy state of Apollyon’s sin-laden world? How is it possible? The heart of man is desperately wicked. Is he worth saving?”

“I don’t know, my friend. Your quest for justice is strong, but we must trust in Elohim and His ways. We’ve seen the fruit of it, have we not?”

Validus calmed himself. “Yes. Yes, we have. It’s just so hard to understand it all.”

Validus and Persimus walked onward, closer to the falls; then Validus stepped off the skywalk and fell with his wings folded until his speed brought exhilaration to his heart. At the last moment, he spread his wings and skimmed across the rooftops of the city towers and buildings; then he flew upward and turned toward the Crystal Sea. Persimus followed but not with quite as much enthusiasm.

They set down along the shoreline near Validus’s favorite cove. As soon as Persimus landed, Validus turned to him.

“Eighty-two against three thousand.” He knelt down and felt the cool sand beneath his palm. “I can’t help but wonder what will happen.”

“The will of Elohim will happen.” Persimus’s voice was solid and sure.

“And was it Elohim’s will when He created the earth that it should fall to sin and that He should one day destroy it?” Validus had thought it many times but had never dared speak it.

Persimus stepped away from him.

Validus stood and faced him. Persimus’s face was expressionless as a stone, but Validus knew his thoughts. He dared continue.

“Is the will of Elohim always accomplished?”

Silence.

“Is it? I have seen men slaughtered for a trinket of gold. I have seen little girls
and
boys ravaged by perverted men. I have seen Davenius devolve into a beast of horror. I have seen Elohim’s mightiest and holiest angel become a destroyer of all that is good. Is that truly Elohim’s will?”

Persimus’s eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. “Has Apollyon swayed you, Validus? What are you saying?”

Validus stepped toward his friend, but Persimus held up his hands. Validus stopped. “What I’m saying is that the will of Elohim and the fate of man, or of a battle, or of the entire earth may not be the same. You have looked into the eyes of our holy God. Where in those eyes do you see a will for a man to die and be tormented forever in the fire of Hades, let alone billions of men and women?” Validus turned away. “No, my friend, the fate of General Jorill, Commander Danick, and the rest of our brothers, including Cadriel, is not sure. Our holy God has created within man and within angels a free will that He does not destroy.”

“How can you say such things?” Persimus’s voice almost pleaded.

Validus turned back. “How can you not? Look at what we are facing: the purging of earth, the destruction of over five billion people because of the wicked devices of Apollyon. The outcome of anything is not certain. Except for this—Elohim will never give up on the righteous. And I believe that Noah, by some miracle of our God, will survive, and the mystery of the Plan will happen in spite of the wicked forces of Apollyon. And I don’t want to just
watch it happen—I want to be an instrument through which it does. I will glory in the judgment and condemnation of Apollyon on that final day.”

Persimus closed his eyes and the creases of his forehead disappeared. He opened his eyes and let the corners of his lips turn upward. “You are a passionate one, Validus. If I didn’t know—”

A trumpet from one of the guardian towers of Mount Simcha sounded across Zion. Validus and Persimus froze. Eighty-one warriors remaining.

Then a second trumpet joined the first, and the two angels launched with all speed into the air and toward the Hall of Vision.

The Battle of the Purge had begun.

10
 

Present Day

Validus continued to search Carter’s bedroom. He found a chart where the young man had recorded his weightlifting goals and each day’s progress. He looked to the corner of the room at a hook where a weightlifting belt might hang.

Validus smiled and quickly exited the rear of the home. He arrived at the gym just as a Mustang pulled out of the parking lot. He followed from a distance, ever watchful of any Fallen activity. The Mustang pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store just as dawn was breaking over the town.

The first glimpse Validus saw of the man was brief. Carter carried himself well and yet without strut. There was a lot to learn about the young man, but Validus would have to wait until he was sure he could do so without jeopardizing Carter’s safety.

Validus watched his new charge enter the grocery store, then circled toward the back of the building, planning to enter discreetly. He couldn’t imagine any Fallen being interested in anything happening at a grocery store at six in the morning, but he chose to play it safe just the same.

He heard faint voices and assumed them to be from workers on their smoke break. Just as he turned the back corner of the building to enter the alley, the words became distinguishable.

“The diviner said Rivercr—”

Validus pulled back, but it was too late. He knew he had been spotted but hoped they hadn’t fully recognized him.

In fractions of a second, he materialized through the cinder block wall into the grocery store, jumped up through the ceiling, and materialized onto the roof He ran across the roof eighty feet and fell through the ceiling again into
an aisle near an assistant manager inspecting an end cap display. He looked up and down the aisle, then bolted through the remaining aisles until he was at the far wall and stepped through to the outside.

All clear. One quick dash brought him to a shoe store at the far end of the parking lot. He entered the closed shop and looked back at the grocery store through the windows.

Validus scanned for any Fallen in pursuit. None.

Diviner
, he thought.
What about Rivercrest could draw the attention of a diviner?
Diviners were fallen angels with a limited ability to see future events on earth. When a possessor with this ability took over a man or a woman, the influence on the humans around them was profound. Even in the world of angels and demons it was an alluring ability.

“Did they see you?”

Validus spun about, drawing his sword with frightening speed.

The guardian ignored the sword and stepped past him to look out the window. “They suspect something’s up too.” He turned to look at Validus over his shoulder. “Just as we do.”

“Who are you?” Validus held his sword at the ready, just in case.

“My name is Tren, and the young man is my charge.”

Validus raised an eyebrow.

“I saw you following him, and I must say this assignment is getting more intriguing every moment. Why is the commanding warrior of the North American continent following my charge?”

Validus relaxed, setting his sword in his scabbard. “Aren’t you a little far away to be protecting him?”

Tren turned to face Validus squarely. “Aren’t you a little far from headquarters?”

Validus smirked but nodded. “I’m your … 
assistant
.”

Tren stared back in silence as if waiting for the punch line to a joke. After a long pause, he turned and looked back out the window. “Why?”

Validus joined him at the window. They watched as two Fallen approached the grocery store from the east side of the parking lot. “I was hoping you could tell me.”

Tren looked over and up at Validus. He shook his head. “I can’t tell you much. I was just assigned a few days ago—or I should say reassigned. Drew
Carter was my charge from when he was born, but at the age of reason I was given another. Now after seven years, I’m back with him … which is pretty unusual.”

Validus watched as the two Fallen entered the grocery store. He fingered his sword, wondering if he was going to have to engage on behalf of Carter already.

“I don’t think they’re after him … at least not yet,” Tren said. “They don’t even know why they’re here. It’s a good thing you avoided them. Once they figure out we’re assigned to Drew, they’ll focus on him and my job will get a lot tougher.”

There was an edge in Tren’s voice that Validus wasn’t sure how to interpret. Validus looked over at the guardian, his new superior. He didn’t seem all that spectacular. There was nothing striking about the angel except his cool approach to everything. He was a little shorter and not as well built as Validus, which was usually the case. Validus reminded himself not to judge on appearance. Some of the most courageous and adept warriors he had known through the centuries were less impressive looking than Tren. His brown eyes and fair hair were a striking contrast.

Although he hadn’t dealt with guardians for more than a few hours at a time and on specific missions, Validus got the sense that they preferred not to work with warriors. He felt it right now.

“What can you tell me about him? I need to know everything if I’m going to help you.”

Tren stared at Validus for a moment, then nodded. “Drew is a good kid but has faced some tough situations. His father died when he was twelve. It was a hard few years.” Tren looked away as if recalling details about that time. “His mother never remarried, but a man named Jake Blanchard, his father’s best friend from his time in the Army Rangers, became a key part of Drew’s life. That’s about when I was reassigned to a different charge.”

Tren stopped. Sorrow etched his brow, and Validus guessed it had something to do with his follow-on assignment.

“Tough one?”

Tren turned his back on Validus and gazed out the window again. In spite of a thousand harrowing battles he had experienced over the millennia, Validus knew that the job of a guardian was the most difficult mission of all angel
orders, as they were called to defend the most innocent of humans—children. Bound by the Genesis and Noahidic Accords, they were limited by how much they could intercede on behalf of their charges. In many cases, because of the evil hearts of other humans around them, their missions were simply impossible. When a guardian was overrun by too many Fallen, oftentimes he fought a desperate, hopeless fight until he was dissolved to Mount Simcha. But that only left the child open to more attacks than before, so the best of the guardians fought the urge to sacrifice all so that they could fight for the child again another day. It was an anguishing duty, and each guardian lived for the day of blessing when his charge reached the age of reason and gave his or her heart to Yeshua. Unfortunately those missions were far less frequent than the converse.

In the challenge of their duty, their solace was in seeing the face of Elohim each morning at sunrise. Validus could tell when a guardian had returned from his time with Elohim, for his face shined as bright as the morning sun.

“He’s leaving,” Tren said.

Validus watched as Carter left the grocery store and made his way to his car. It was difficult to tell from this distance, but something about his gait made Validus wonder if something was amiss.