THE ARCH-ANGEL AND THE PRINCE. Episode 3 (HEAVEN'S GATE I)

Far across the celestial space, one of the young angelic scouts spying the terrain on the war front noticed something strange. He saw a progression of dark beings advancing towards Heaven’s Gate. Was that what they were expecting? He expected
familiar faces. But what he saw was nothing like that. He was looking at an encroachment of strange beings bringing intense and overwhelming fear along with them. Their movement was like a massive advancement of darkness. Darkness never
known before. They moved like black ink spreading across the bright celestial sky, swallowing up every light along their path. The young angel didn’t just see darkness
approaching, he felt dread. In a spiral flash of light, he sped off to give Michael the information. “Sir, Lucifer and his host are approaching”.
“What else did you see”?
“I saw terror, sir”, the young lad whispered.
Michael could see the disturbed look on his face. Michael knew he had to calm the soldier’s fears. He didn’t want him spreading panic through the ranks.
“We do not speak of terror, young warrior. We are the King’s soldiers. He that is with us is more than he that is with them. Now join the ranks and prepare yourself for a good fight”.
Despite having a limited number to choose from, he was satisfied with those he had at his disposal. These were seasoned fighters. The three archangels had taken their time to choose the best. Not that the King needed the best. But as far as Michael was concerned, the best would do. Besides, not all the angels could go to war. Most of the
seraphs were worship angels and their place is in the courts of the King. The ronks were already aware of their responsibility in taking care of the wounded.
It was apparent that the war will take place outside Heaven’s Gate. Michael has arrayed his battle-ready army fully dressed in their war gears flanked by Gabriel and Norreus. They all watched as the host of darkness aligned themselves in front of
Heaven’s Gate. The angelic warriors could not believe their eyes. Before them stood their former partners and friends. But they could not recognize them.
Their beautiful and bright skins were now looked pale. Instead of the white fire that burned in the eyes of the angels, theirs have become pale yellow. Their wings no longer had their shimmering brightness. These were once beautiful creatures,
now turned into shadows of their former selves. Michael was forced to take a look at his army and then at the ones at the other end. On one side, there were a group of beings in glittering and dazzling light. On the other end was darkness. Thick darkness. Inky blackness. Darkness so thick it could suffocate life out of a living thing. Michael could feel the darkness, the chaos, the stench. He hoped that their brightness had the same effect on their enemies.
“Why can’t Elohim just destroy him by himself?” asked Norreus, expecting Gabriel on the other side of Michael to answer. He got exactly that.
“Because he is too small for the king to deal with. Lucifer is not a king. The only being who can confront Elohim in a battle has to be equal to him. Lucifer is not. He is merely a creation. His creation, just like we are. Lucifer has the plans of overthrowing the King himself but he knows he has to pass through us to do that.”
Just as Gabriel finished answering, the most hideous of them all stepped out of the enemies’ ranks. Michael’s eyeballs almost pulled out of his sockets. Here he was staring at the being that was once regarded as the ‘Angel of angels’.
You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of the King; every precious stone adorned you:
Ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl.
All in beautiful settings of finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created.
But the being that he gazed upon was nothing like that description. He was staring at the dark version of the ‘Angel of angels’. This was no longer an angel. This was a vermin. A dragon. A gruesome being. A dreadful entity. As the devil marched to take his place in front of the ranks, Michael took his time to look closely at this new breed. All the jewels that adorned his body had faded off. His soft beautiful face that charmed the ronks has become a thick hide of skin. It was clear that what now controlled him had eaten so deep into him and had turned him into a devil. The beautiful adornments of different ornaments and the brightness of flurry wings have now become dull metals, hideous hide-skin, yellowish eyes and a dark countenance.
Michael’s mind wandered back to the not-so –distant past when this vermin was one of them. He was regarded as the perfect angel. He was a warrior, a singer, a prince, and the most talented of all the angels. Elohim, in his skilled wisdom made every angel distinct with one unique talent or the other. But this creature was a being with all these talents put into one. Michael was known for his brutish nature and prides himself as a warrior. A lot of times during training combat, he had singlehandedly faced five or six fighters at once. One of the most memorable instances was when six fighters for surrounded him on every side. To their utmost surprise, he spread his large wings and rocketed into the sky in a spiral. Just as he had expected, the six followed him upwards. They drifted higher up until they were nothing but tiny dots in the sky. The only thing that those below noticed was that there was an arc of fast light and then the fighters dropped to the ground like felled trees. Nobody knew what happened up there. Not even the fighters. The only one among them who claimed to
have seen anything said he saw a flash of light and everything went blank. Nobody asked Michael what happened. He did not tell either. The warriors called it the Spiral Blaze. Some of the solders secretly prayed for a repeat during the battle.
Norreus, despite his strength and size never depended on those qualities too often. He had the special ability to spot little details. He was very much groomed at detecting slight differences and changes in things and people around him. His talent made him specially cut out for his duty as Chief of Heaven’s Gate.
And it paid off.
He was the first to spot the difference in Lucifer before it was finally confirmed that he had rebelled. He noticed a tiny dark spot in the angel’s robe when he came in. When he approached Lucifer concerning it, he just laughed it off and said it was nothing. Norreus’ suspicion grew when he discovered that Lucifer kept a low profile and
eventually departed back to Earth. He did not go to the King’s court. He knew he would be found out if he did. Norreus’ keen interests and curiosity made him ask a lot of questions. Questions that made him sound like a doubter, but the angels especially
Gabriel had come to understand it as his nature and always used his wisdom to make sure his Norreus understood.
The other two archangels have learnt to always balance their gifts with the wisdom of Gabriel. As the King’s personal messenger, he spent more time in the Kings court than any of the archangels. He was known for not saying much and when he did, it
is just the right word for the moment. His wisdom, oration and good judgment had endeared him to many especially Michael. But despite their abilities, the prince that confronted them, spreading his huge twin wings, had all their talents combined. He was the only undefeated among the warriors, he was full of wiles and wisdom and he could smell fear or weakness from a distance. He had the brutish and fierce ability of a soldier like Michael. He had the wisdom and intelligence of one like Gabriel and he had a knack for not missing tiny details. In full stance, he was the envy of every angel, the dread of any adversary and now the terror at Heaven’s Gate. They all watched as he took his place in front of his warrior and with a deep, resonant voice, he roared,
“MICHAEL!”

to be continued...