CHAPTER X
A new beginning
Gabriel, son of Sansael and Eronen, grew up and was educated at the court of King Enos, even though he preserved the humble nature of his parents.
Although the giants despised God, the humans' attitude differed towards the Creator. With them, Gabriel developed a strong love and respect for the Lord.
Gabriel's best friend was Noah, the bastard son of Lameque, who was also raised in the royal palace. From an early age, Gabriel and Noah played together in Enos' gardens.
Noah overcame Gabriel in board games and other mental endeavors, but not in physical challenges like running and swimming. Their friendship lasted even when they both fell in love, then as teenagers, with Shazira, daughter of Rotterdam, Royal Treasury Advisor, a wealthy and influential man. A bit younger than them, Shazira already exhibited the attributes of the beautiful woman in which she would blossom. Her eyes and black hair contrasted, in an almost hypnotic effect, with very white skin and a light and well-defined face. Many of her suitors coveted her family's fortune stake and prestige, but none of them, nor the most self-interested, despised her beauty and refined manners.
Gabriel, for his part, was not exactly a prospectus of wealth or brilliant thoughts. Soon, he sought to impress Shazira through his superior physical strength, which, it was said, rivalled Sansael's itself. It was common to find Shazira sitting under the shade of some tree, while Gabriel showed himself running like lightning through the woods, jumping hills from a single leap or lifting rocks, horses, wagons. Shazira had a great time on these occasions, clapping and smiling. However, the key to Shazira's heart lay in other attributes. Her mind was drawn to the one who knew how to listen, whose words captivated her, and, more especially, who stimulated her ideas and aspirations.
And so Shazira married Noah and gave him six children: three boys and three girls. Gabriel never fell in love again, for true was his love for Shazira. And the same was true for Noah, whom, more than a friend, Gabriel regarded as a brother. And Gabriel frequented Noah and Shazira's house, played with their children, and respected the couple.
Cainan, son of Enos, ascended the throne two decades later, following the passing of his venerable father. At that time, Noah's sons had begun to erect huts, each for their own family, in the vast fields of cultivation that their father had received from Enos as a gift of marriage. Noah's lands were among the best farms in the rich agricultural belt that surrounded the City of Man.
Then, on a hot summer night, another Gabriel came into Noah's presence. A Gabriel with wings on his back, his best friend's eponymous grandfather. Noah woke up with the light emanated from the Seraph. His wife, however, remained dormant under the power of the angel, oblivious to the conversation that followed.
By dawn, Shazira awakened to a pale, haunted Noah, gathered to a corner of the bed, hugging his own knees. His swollen face denounced last night in the clear and the many tears he had shed. Distressed, Shazira hugged him, seeking answers.
Noah, however, composed himself and set off on his best steed, as fast as the wind. Noah visited each of his heirs and summoned them to a family reunion at his home.
They were surprised by the attitude of the patriarch, a usually serene man, who then was agitated and troubled as they had never witnessed. Noah offered no explanation, riding to the City of Man, from where he returned accompanied by the giant Gabriel, who rode Sansael's favorite horse.
Every family member was present at Noah's house. Sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, grandchildren, making up sixty-six descendants. Noah went straight to the point. He revealed to them the terrible announcement of the angel Gabriel.
God had decided to cleanse the Earth of the blood shed by Man. A great flood would cover the world, purging it from evil and providing a new beginning to creation.
To that end, only Noah's family would be spared. They were to build an ark, in the specifications of the Lord, that would serve to protect them from the tragedy to come and should house a couple of each animal chosen by God. The flood would last forty days and forty nights, and, at its end, Noah's family would claim the Earth for Man.
Noah's family were astonished. Some wept, others despaired, mortified by the fate that friends, acquaintances, everyone but them would face. Still, they never doubted Noah's words, for they were imbued with the wisdom of angels.
“And what will become of my people?” asked Gabriel, astonished. “Will the giants disappear from the world?”
“I'm sorry, old friend,” Noah was moved, with great sadness. “The Herald has asked me to keep it secret from anyone outside the family. But in my heart, you are part of my house, and therefore deserving of the truth. God denied the giants as an aberration created not by Him, but by the undue union of the two races. Angels will never go back to sleep with the daughters of Man. And thus, this prohibition along with the flood will also serve to wipe out the giants of existence.”
“How much time do we have?” asked Gabriel, his voice uneasy.
“Twenty-nine days. If we cannot build the ark by then, humanity will be doomed.”
“I will help you -- Not by God, because my father was right. He is not worth my devotion,” Gabriel said. “But for you, Noah and Shazira, friends I love. For your family and humanity. In return, I ask you to keep alive the stories of the giants and their deeds, so that my people will not be forgotten under the burden of time.”
“I promise,” said Noah, solemn and with a tortured face.
Shazira hugged Gabriel and kissed him on the cheek. Noah added his arms to hers around his friend and wept.
Gabriel's help proved invaluable. Without him, it would have been impossible for Noah and his family to finish the ark before the flood. The giant felled the trees, carried them across great distances and extracted from them the wooden planks necessary for the construction of the hull and the keel of the vessel.
The ark was three times the height of the royal palace of Enoch, until then the largest structure on Earth. With six decks plus the quarter deck, the width of the ark was worth seventy-two pairs of bulls gathered. The ship crossed in such a way the extensions of Noah's farm that the main house and the smaller ones needed to be knocked down to give it space. In fact, its bow and stern reached, respectively, the northern and southern boundaries of the property.
Such a magnificent project would not go unnoticed. At first, in small groups, but, in a short time, large processions of curious came to admire that vast ship being mounted amidst the dry land, far from any ocean or river. Even a royal entourage, headed by Cainan himself, visited Noah. However, neither to the king did Noah clarify the purpose of the ark. Noah came to be considered a madman and his ship, an eccentricity. And, though it aroused general strangeness, Noah was not breaking any laws and was therefore left alone to work on his bizarre wooden monument.
On several occasions, Sansael discussed warmly with his son Gabriel why he took part in his friend's lunacy. Although it was extremely painful for him to deny his father the truth, Gabriel remained silent in respect for Noah.
At the end of twenty-eight days, dark clouds appeared on the horizon. Yet, thanks to Gabriel's dexterity and muscles, the ark had been completed on time.
At dawn of the next day, a strong storm gathered, not only over the kingdom of Adam, but across the four corners of the globe. The whole Earth had been shrouded in darkness, by rain and lightning.
On the following day, the oceans rose.
On the next morning, the waters, in their irresistible ascent, had already reached the ankles of the inhabitants of the City of Man.
In panic, the population of the valley rushed to the strange ship Noah had built.
After all, was Noah not a bastard son of the kingdom of Enoch and, as such, a fruit of evil? How else would Noah have designed a vessel if he himself did not know about the flood? Therefore, Noah should be the one responsible for that terrible sorcery. And thus, they decided to take the ark to their families and abandon Noah and his offspring to die under the waters.
The people, however, stopped and fell to their knees, in front of the ark.
Dozens of angels were coming and going before them, bringing animal couples from all over the world. They guided them down the ramp leading into the ark. Even the wildest animals behaved in an orderly fashion. Lions, tigers, and panthers respected their natural prey, with an unprecedented docility. There was a cell destined for each couple on the bottom of the four decks.
From outside the ark, people begged the angels for help. But those remained silent, guarding the vessel.
At nightfall, the water rose enough to lift the keel of the ark from the ground. Noah hugged his friend Gabriel for one last time, in a long and painful farewell. The giant had worked until the final moment, embarking the last supplies for men and beasts for the long journey forward. Without looking back, a sorrowful Noah went inside to join his relatives. Gabriel performed one decisive task, closing the ark's access doors, and releasing the heavy ramps.
With the waterline beating on his chest, Gabriel watched the ark float and slowly follow its course, escorted by a wing of Cherubim. It slid slowly until it disappeared on the horizon.
Sansael appeared swimming behind his son. They exchanged a long hug as the waters finished wrapping them up. Father and son drowned together.
The throne room, in Purgatory.
As for all angels, time used to mean nothing to Lucifer.
That was until he discovered the earthly world. From then on, even from the depths of the Abyss, Lucifer experienced the passage of time.
However, back in the spiritual realm, such influence should have ceased, yet strangely it was not what occurred. Lucifer suffered every moment of his imprisonment as an endless torture. The usual silence of his jailers only made it worse. The guards never spoke to him, not even Camael, who remained long periods meditating on his throne.
Lucifer waged an intense inner war to conserve his focus and mental discipline and thus not allow his sanity to fade away. Even though he had lost the notion of the time he had been confined to those chains. Would it have been millennia or whole eras when they finally came for him? This question he did not dare to ask the wing of Seraphim who released him from the fortress. They led a puzzled, shackled Lucifer toward Earth.
As they approached the world of Man, Lucifer glimpsed a disconcerting white scar rising in the curvature of the planet. When they reached the upper layer of the Earth, Lucifer distinguished it more properly, and became convinced it was an angelic work. An incomparable tower, more impressive than the highest buildings of the Four Heavens. It rose from the largest continent to almost reach the darkness of space. The heavenly escort descended following the expanse of the monumental tower to its base, located in the center of a vast city, five times larger than Enoch at its height.
Floating near the tower, high above the city's tallest buildings, Gabriel, the Herald of God, awaited Lucifer. The Seraph had a disturbed expression that intrigued the Firstborn.
Gabriel nodded and the escort freed Lucifer from the chains before departing, leaving alone the two most powerful Seraphim of creation.
“What happened here?” asked Lucifer. “What is this place?”
“God sent a flood to sweep away the world,” Gabriel said. “Only the generation of one man has been preserved, and it has repopulated the Earth. His seed raised this city, then the only human abode, which, at the end of its glory, came to house more than one million inhabitants.”
“What about the tower?” questioned Lucifer, unwilling to disguise his admiration for the monument that crossed the sky.
“They built it.”
“Man raised it?!” Lucifer was astonished. “I never imagined that the human race would be capable of something so magnificent.”
“No doubt,” Gabriel was deeply troubled. “However, it led to the Second Fall of Man.”
“What do you mean?”
“They erected the tower in the course of the last two millennia, under the orders of kings Mahalalel and Járede, descendants of Noah,” Gabriel said. “They aspired to touch the face of God with it.”
Lucifer smiled.
“What petulance!”
“Yes,” Gabriel acknowledged. “And despite all our warnings, they insisted on the work. And God punished their arrogance. He shattered their one language and spread the humans over the Earth.”
“Does Man no longer speak the angelic language?”
“No, they lost it forever.”
The Devil laughed.
“Great chaos will fall upon Man with the confusion of languages.”
“There is wisdom in your wickedness, my brother,” Gabriel said. “For Man's punishment is even greater. God commanded you to be freed to bring misery to humanity.”
“Nothing would give me more pleasure.”
“But don't overdo it. You are still prevented from physically hurting any human being. If you cross that line, your legions will be destroyed, and your essence mixed with the darkness of the Abyss.”
Lucifer trembled at those threats, yet he was encouraged by the prospect of subjugating Man.
“Did any of my demons awaken in humanity the plan to build this tower?”
“No, brother. An angelic host kept the Abyss under constant surveillance,” Gabriel said. "Man cannot blame demons for their ruin this time. They have only themselves to curse for it. To the evil they carry within themselves.”
Gabriel clenched his fists, his face hardened. “In the flood, God sacrificed my son and my grandson, but spared the family of Noah, a descendant of Lameque. As a result, every man who walks the world carries your blood in their veins.”
Lucifer savored Gabriel's words with pleasure. “And this revolts you.”
“Noah was God-minded yet uncleaned. I don't understand why God chose him as the new Adam.”
Lucifer sighed.
“For what I know of our Father, I guess He believed that His creation was strong enough to subjugate the evil that exists within themselves. He places great faith and hope in Man. And that is His worst mistake.”
“Now, none of this truly matters,” Gabriel shook his head. “We will be watching your actions, Lucifer Morningstar. Do your part, and the angels of the Lord will not intervene in your reign over the world.”
Lucifer nodded.
“Go now; resume your throne in the Dark City,” Gabriel said.
“Goodbye, my brother,” the Devil reacted. “I hope never to see you again.”
Lucifer flapped his wings toward the Abyss.
Gabriel turned to the impressive tower and punched it willingly.
It cracked from top to bottom with the force of the blow and collapsed into tens of thousands of pieces. The wreckage covered the valley down there and buried it for eternity.
Lucifer flew over the vastest ocean.
The angelic host who guarded the Abyss used to glide in circles above the cold waters. Its commander, Seraph Ardonael, handed Mephistopheles to Lucifer and set off accompanied by his warriors back to the Four Heavens.
The Enemy dived toward his sinister home, crossing its Seal, and gliding through its sweltering airs. Lucifael, the Great Pyramid, projected its pale light over the fortified walls of the Dark City.
At that moment, Lucifer came across an unusual vision: three demons were tied to thick wooden poles in front of the city gates. He landed next to the captives, finding them to be Beelzebub, Leviathan and Pazuzu. Thick, tight ropes, with hundreds of metal skewers, held them by the necks, arms and calves. They bled in agony.
“What's the point of that?” asked Lucifer, authoritatively.
Nine demons, armed with spears and swords, had been on guard around the prisoners. Two officers approached the Devil.
“Master Lucifer!” reacted the senior officer. “We thought you had perished at the hands of the hateful angels.”
“My prince,” said Leviathan, as surprised as his tormentors. “Matraton usurped your crown!”
“We wanted to launch war against the angels to rescue you," said Beelzebub. “But Matraton betrayed you and set us as an example to discourage other dissenters.”
Lucifer looked harshly at the two officers.
“Free them! Now!”
The officers looked at each other.
“I'm sorry,” said the senior officer. “We have direct orders from the Prince Regent himself to keep them here.”
“I am the Prince Regent!” Lucifer roared.
“That's not for us to decide, milord. However, it would be an honor to escort you to the throne room so you might address the matter with Lord Matraton.”
Lucifer smiled.
The officers, feeling a bit relieved, did the same. However, Lucifer took their swords from their sheaths so quickly that they could not react before he had already nailed them to their chests. The two demons vanished into their essences, swallowed up right away by the muddy ground of the Abyss. The remaining warriors advanced with their spears to fist against Lucifer.
With a sword in each hand, Lucifer discharged all the accumulated anger and humiliation of his detention over the soldiers. One after another, they were sliced by the Devil's blades.
Lucifer then freed his faithful servants from the wooden poles.
Beelzebub, Leviathan and Pazuzu armed themselves with the spears of the dead guards and followed their prince to the Great Pyramid.
Matraton, the Demon of Silence, stood before the four fallen Seraphim who invaded the throne room. He seemed to cringe before Lucifer's stern, harsh gaze, abandoning the city like a wretched shadow.
Lucifer got his throne back as Matraton took refuge in the swamps south of the Abyss.
Matraton would return as an announced curse, for in the Demon of Silence burned the lust for revenge and power. Lucifer knew their real struggle was yet to come.