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Into our first world , shall we follow
The deception of the thrush? Into our first world.
There they were, dignified , invisible,
Moving without pressure, over the dead leaves,
In the autumn heat, through the vibrant air ...
- T. S. Eliot, Burnt Norton
The Reverend Matthew Wallace sat at his desk, frowning, rubbing his eyes, trying to concentrate. It was latenearly midnight- and he was still at the studio catching up
on network paperwork. The document in front of him was
lengthy and dry and not particularly good news. It was a
demographic study of the ratings for his show, The Hour of
Jesus' Power. They were holding steady for the third year in
a row, but the network had some concerns. They wanted a
wider audience. They wanted him to broaden his appeal.
They had suggestions for pitching himself to a more populous, more suburban, more upscale audience.
"Why don't they just tell me to get more whites to
tune in, and be done with it?" he growled.
He wasn't really thinking about the document. He
was looking at it and considering it, but it didn't have his
full attention. His mind kept wandering back to Gina.
"I shouldn't," Wallace muttered to himself. He
turned a page and started reading about his dwindling
appeal among black professionals. He made it about
halfway down before his mind crept back to Gina.

"I could call Zola now," he said. "She'd see I was at

the office from the caller ID. Tell her I'm working late
-that's just the truth. Be true when I'm saying it. Then
sneak out. Maybe surprise Gina with ... " He shook his
head. He didn't call his wife.
In the next two paragraphs, he actually found an
idea for a fundraiser that he thought might be useful.
That kept his attention for two more pages, then he was
thinking about calling his wife again.
"I could call her, then call Gina. Or call Gina first,
make sure she's there. Give her a chance to get ready for
me." He was tired, but he felt a little internal movement
in that thought. But no. He shouldn't. It was wrong. He
looked at the picture of Zola on his desk and let the
guilty feelings wash over him.
"Hell with it."
He put the report away, stood and strode purposefully
out of his office. He was going to go home, get back to his
wife and children. He was going to go where he belonged.
He told himself he was too old to be catting around

CII\PTEH 0 \ E

anyway. Old and tired. He'd break it off with Gina. Maybe
this Saturday, when Zola took the kids to see Gramma.
He was planning to see Gina Saturday in any event.
Maybe it was time to finally end it. Maybe.
Feeling a small sense of virtue, he locked the door
behind him and turned toward the parking lot, turning
up his collar at the misty rain. He barely had time to
register that there was a second vehicle there, parked
next to his BMW ... a familiar car, a Lexus ...
Noah's car.
The last time Matthew had seen his oldest son
Noah, they hadn't really talked. They'd yelled.
He'd condemned his son's recently declared atheism.
Noah had called his father a con man, selling
salvation like snake oil.
Matthew thundered back that Noah had never rejected
the roofover his head, the food in his mouth, the money in the
bank and the education Matthew had never gotten.
That's when Noah told him about the full scholarship to BGSU's grad program. He'd said he didn't need
Matthew any longer, that he could finally break his
father's golden manacles.
Matthew called him a spoiled little ingrate and
threatened to disown him.
Noah called his bluff.
That had been two years ago, and they hadn't
spoken since.

REWLaTIONS
A figure formed from the darkness. Tall, handsome,
wearing a camel-hair coat and fine leather boots. No hat
sat on his close-cropped hair, but a white cashmere scarf
made a striking contrast against chocolate skin. He was
a shade lighter than Matthew, perhaps, and a few shades
darker than Zola.
Matthew licked lips that suddenly felt dry.
"Son?" he croaked. He swallowed and said it again,
louder, stronger. "Son!"
Noah said nothing.
"Oh Noah ... Noah, I'm ... " He opened his arms.
"I've missed you, son. You don't know how much I've
prayed for this."
The figure was silent and immobile. The hairs rose
on the back of Matthew's neck.
"Son ... Noah .. . " He faltered. "I know I said some
terrible things. And I'm sorry. I'm not so proud I can't
say I was wrong. Not a day's gone by that I haven't
thought about what's happened between us. Not one
day. Please ... please tell me you've come back."
"Have you truly prayed for your son's return?" The
voice was Noah's, but the tone was coldly neutral, like
a judge passing sentence.

The reverend frowned. "You know I have."

"Even though the answer has always been 'no' before?"
"That was the past. You're here now, aren't you?"
The figure before him laughed ... and then changed.
Where once there stood a handsome black man,
the glory of fire was now revealed. Puddled water
recoiled, boiling off into steam. The empty parking lot
was suddenly ablaze with celestial light, and Matthew
fell to his knees, hands clasped, eyes wide.
"My Lord and my God!" he cried. "My Lord and God!"
"MATIHEW ,"said the apparition that had once been
his child, "BE NOT AFRAID."
"What do you ask of me?"
"WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE?"
"Anything! Anything, my Lord! I'm your servant.
Yours to command!"
"ALL I ASK IS YOUR LOYALTY, MATIHEW. ALL I ASK IS
YOUR TRUST AND YOUR PLEDGE."
"I'm yours! You know I am, I've always been! Thy
will be done, Lord! Thy will be done!"
"SHALL I SET MY SEAL UPON YOUR BROW, TO MARK YOU
AS MY OWN FOREVER?"
Eyes closed in bliss, Matthew leaned forward expectantly, presenting his forehead.
Behind his eyelids, he could see the light of the
miracle fade to black, and when he opened them again,
the scene was lit once again by the orange of halogen
streetlights and the blue of moonlight on mist.
Before him stood his son again, shaking his
head disdainfully.
"Fool," Noah said.
Matthew was suddenly aware of the cold dampness
seeping in through the knees of his suit, and fear gave
way to anger.
"What's the meaning of this?" he demanded, lurching to his feet.
"Oh Matthew ... you're one in a million. Not many
people are willing to just up and give away the store to God
-or someone claiming to be Him." There was a mocking
edge to Noah's voice, but his face betrayed little emotion.
Matthew frowned . "What did I see?"
Noah's dark eyes narrowed. "What did you think
you saw?"
"I saw the glory of God Almighty."
At that, Noah's eyes fell, but after a moment he
shook his head and gave a rueful chuckle. "No Matthew, you didn't see the glory of God Almighty. What
you saw was the hole God's glory left when He yanked
it out. That was ... the shadow of a fragment of the
Maker's grandeur. That was its ashes."
"Noah ... " Matthew began, but his mind still reeled,
unable to believe what he'd seen.

19

DEliO\: 'I'IIE F\LLE\

The figure before him leaned in and asked, "What

did you think I was?"
"I thought I saw an angel of the Lord."
Noah gave his father a cruel smirk. "Guess again." He
turned to the building before them and read from the sign
by the door. "Celestine Productions Incorporated, home
of Reverend Matthew Wallace and the Hour of]esus' Power."
He shook his head. "I see you gave Christ second billing."
"What's going on?" Matthew demanded.
"Let's go inside and talk about it." Noah reached for
the heavy doors with both hands - then hissed.
Matthew's eyes widened as white smoke poured
from between Noah's fingers. Noah snatched his hands
back, and his lip curled as he looked down at them.
The reverend felt faint as he watched the blisters spring
up, the curls ofblackened flesh, the blood ... Noah knelt and
pressed both hands into an oily puddle. When he pulled
them out, flecks of blood and charred skin stained his palms.
"Very interesting," he said, looking back at the
studio door with wary respect. "I suppose we'll have to
discuss this elsewhere."
"What are you?"
"My my, someone's not very quick on the uptake."
The Noah that Matthew knew hadn't been in the habit
of making tsk sounds with his tongue and rolling his eyes
in mock exasperation. This new Noah apparently was,
and Matthew didn't like it.
"Let's see ... " Noah counted off on bloodied fingers.
"Glorious apparition with wings of fire. Not an angel of the
Lord. Tries to seduce mortals into pledges of fealty ... and is
harmed by holy ground. What do you suppose that leaves?"
A man oflesser faith would have been skeptical, but
Matthew, for all his faults, was a man of true belief.
"Get behind me, Satan," he whispered.
Noah snorted. "Wouldn't it be simpler if you just
turned around?"
Matthew lunged forward, seized Noah's lapels in his
hands and wrenched him up until Noah stood on tiptoe.
"What have you done with my son?" he roared.
The figure- the demon?- said nothing, just gave
a narrow-eyed half smile.
Had Matthew been a genuinely violent man, he
would have punched that grinning face, gouged those
narrowed eyes and flung what was left to the pavement.
Had the face before him belonged to anyone but his own
child, he would have pressed it against the building's doors,
hoping to burn it with holy pain. But Matthew was a man
of words and gestures, so he just stood there, clutching
Noah's coat and feeling more and more foolish.
"There seems to be some misunderstanding," the
face before him said softly. "This jacket is for my
personal use only. I'll thank you to release it."
Matthew narrowed his eyes and pushed the figure away.

"Now, if we could ... "

Suddenly the reverend raised his hands to the
leaden sky. "Oh Lord Jesus, hear my plea! Save me from
this fiend! Spare your servant from this figure from the
pit!" His voice rang from the concrete walls of the
surrounding buildings.
"Stop that!" Noah said.
"Please sweet Lord, save your fearful servant! You
are my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want!"
"I'm warning you!" Noah's face twisted with hatred ... and a touch of fear, too.
"Please sweet ]esus, m
. your name I pray ... "
Before Matthew could say more, Noah was in his
face, white teeth inches from his nose. "Do you pray to
Jesus when you go fuck the choir leader? Did you pray to
Him to get her in bed? Did you get down on your knees
and pray, 'Oh Lord, please don't let my wife find out'?"
Matthew faltered. He tried to start again. "You are
my shield and my portion ... "
"What's she got anyway, Reverend? She suck your
dick when your wife says no? Do you pray for forgiveness
every time you sneak off to screw her, or do you save it
all up for one big confession each month?"
"You shut your God-damned mouth!"
The figure before him relaxed, straightened its coat,
dusted off hands that were suddenly smooth and unburned. "So much for exorcism," Noah said.
Matthew's gaze fell to the pavement. "Get away
from me," he said. "Leave me alone." But he wasn't
demanding anymore. He was pleading.
"Is that what you really want?" Noah's voice was
unexpectedly gentle. "If you want me to go, I will. You'll
never see my face again." When Matthew didn't answer
at first, Noah drew something from his pocket and held
it out. "I guess I should be giving this back, then."
Matthew hesitated, but when he recognized the
object, he reached out instinctively.
It was a Bible - a brown, leather bound Good
News Bible with gilt edges. He recognized it. He'd given
it to Noah after the boy's First Communion. Opening it,
he read, Go with God always. I love you son.
"Why are you doing this?" Matthew whispered.
"Because I thought you c~uld help me," the other
replied, then turned to walk away.
"Wait!" Matthew said.
Noah turned.
"Will you come with me?" Matthew asked.

l\ DEJ\L WITH THE DEVIL

Two doors down from the church stood Rollins
Productions. Sonny Rollins was a parishioner at
Matthew's church, and he had it as his primary production client. He'd given Matthew a key years ago.

Cu \lYrE I\ ()\ E

Sonny's office was small and cluttered (and it

reeked of cigarettes), but there were two comfortable
desk chairs and a coffee maker.
"Remarkable," the minister's guest said.
"What's remarkable?" Matthew asked.
"Your TV station is holy ground."
"It's a church first and foremost."
The other let out a snort. "Oh yeah. That's why it's
buried in the middle of acres of commercial and industrial zoned real estate, miles away from where any
residents might realistically congregate."
Matthew shook his head. "The church is not a
building, it is a condition. 'Wherever two or three are
gathered in My name-"'
"Or, for that matter, watching the TV at home. Funny
how the word 'congregation' has now stretched to include
people who are alone and just praying at the same time."
"Why have you come here?" Matthew asked. "Wait,
I'll start with a simpler question: If you're not my son,
who are you?"
The other regarded him silently - a stone-faced
glance like a poker player examining a hand of cards.
Matthew only returned the stare until his guest seemed
to reach a conclusion. "You can call me Gaviel, when
we're alone. 'Noah' will do when we're around others.
Less confusing that way."
"Gaviel."
"Don't use it lightly." Something in Gaviel's eyes
told Matthew that he wasn't joking.
Matthew clenched his fists and gritted his teeth,
but his voice - always his best tool- remained calm
and controlled as he said, "And you are a demon."
"That's fair to say."
"You are in possession of my son's body."
Gaviel nodded. "I'm afraid so."
"You must realize I won't rest until you leave it."
Gaviel looked down and he seemed, for a moment,
genuinely sad. "Matthew, I didn't kill your son, and I didn't
force him out of his body. I want you to believe that."
"I'm sure you do, but you'll forgive me if I'm suspicious."
"Noah Wallace is no more, Matthew. I'm truly
orry, but that is the entire truth."
"You say that, but I see his body before me and hear
his voice." Matthew's words were reasonable, but the
situation was straining even his ability to speak calmly.
"The body remains. The memories remain. But the
soul of your son is gone. He was struck by a car five days
ago as he crossed the street near the university. There
was some brain damage."
"I don't believe you! This is some trick. It has to be."
"A police report was filed. Look it up for yourself.
His mind was damaged, his soul weakened, and I sensed

it. I claimed this body for my own, and he was driven

out, left to the fate that awaits all mankind. I know hi
memories and his skills, but that Noah you knew- the
essential, animating spark- is gone for good."
"You're lying!"
Gaviel sighed. "What would I possibly gain by lying
about this?"
"You're afraid I'll exorcise you."
"I think we've already established that your faith
isn't quite up to that task," the demon replied.
"I may be weak, but I'm a minister of the Lord."
"With a degree from a seminary one step up from an
ad in Rolling Stone."
"I have a doctorate in theology!"
"You have an honorary doctorate from a college that is,
like your alma mater, targeting the same market as truckdriving schools. A doctorate you received, I might add, the
same year you donated $25,000 to that college's scholarship
fund."Gavielshookhishead."Youcan'tevenreadtheBible!"
"I read the Bible every day!"
"You read a translation of the Bible every day, but do
you know any Latin besides 'quid pro quo'? Any Greek?
Any Hebrew at all?" Gaviel was clearly enjoying the
other man's discomfort.
"Faith is more important. Faith is more important
than degrees, than learning, than accomplishments."
"On that, we agree. That's why I've come to you."
He leaned in. "You do realize that I could have marked
your soul, out there in the rain? I could have made you
my creature- my slave, bound to my will and living or
dying at my whim. But I didn't. I let you keep your soul,
and I even suffered you to lay violent hands upon me, to
insult me and spurn me and call on God's wrath."
"You want something. Something from me."
"Is God's forgiveness truly infinite?"
The question caught the reverend off guard. "Well
yes. Of course."
"Encompassing all sins, no matter how grievous?"
"If the repentance is genuine."
"What about a fallen angel, Reverend? Could God
forgive even such a one as that? One who willfully
transgressed His direct commands? One who set out to
deliberately soil all of God's creation, one who set
himself up for the worship of humanity?"
At this Matthew frowned. "I don't know. Could
such a being truly repent?"
Gaviel paused and smiled once more. "That's the
question, isn't it?"
"That's what you want? A return to God?"
"If it's possible. You believe the intercession of one
man saved the human race. I believe the intercession of
a man can save my race as well. Will you help me?"

21

DEliO \ : TilE F\LLE\

Matthew narrowed his eyes. "I'd try. If I thought

you were sincere."
Gavielspread his hands. "I've already shown you substantial mercy and forbearance. What other proofs can I offerr'
Matthew leaned forward and his eyes burned. "Release my son."
"Matthew, Igiveyou my word thatl'mnotholdinghim."
"What good is the word of a self-confessed rebel and
blasphemer?"
"As good as the advice of an arrogant, self-righteous
adulterer. I mean, really: Did you think you were such a
saint that you were worthy of an angelic visitation? You're
a televangelist, a word synonymous with 'fraud' and 'hypocrite' among America's literate classes. I'll grant that you
never stole from the collection plate, but only because your
self-defined fiscal guidelines are so loose that buying yourself cars and jewelry is actually permitted. Honestly, in the
'sleazy minister' trifecta, you've done just about everything
but tattoo 'love' and 'hate' on your fingers!"
"If I'm so low, what does that make you? If I'm so
weak in faith, what are you who comes asking for help?"
Gaviel shrugged. "Another point for you, Reverend. Do you want to sit here and trade quips all night,
or do you want to know, specifically, why I chose you?"
"I'm sure you'll tell me regardless."

22

"I chose you because you're arrogant. You've got the

pride of idealism. You think that anything you do is
right because you do it. You have the faith that moves
mountains, and that's the faith I need. The faith that
thinks, 'Maybe I can redeem a fallen angel."' Gaviel sat
back and considered.
"Pastor, there are two possibilities here. Either I'm
holding your son's soul captive or I'm not, agreed? Ifl'm
holding his soul- and I'm not, but I seem unable to
persuade you of that- it's in your best interest to at
least keep me close so you can find some way to liberate
him. Now, please, as a favor, just consider the possibility
that I'm telling you the truth. Just maybe Matthew
really is gone and I've told you the truth about my
repentance. Is there any way you can turn me aside and
claim to be a man of God?"
Matthew sighed hard.
"I still think you're trying to trick me," he said, "But
you're right. I'm caught. I can't afford to just cast you out."
"I appreciate that." Gaviel sat back in his chair and
seemed to relax. "So. What should we do?"
"I suppose we could take a page from the Catholics,
if you want to confess your sins."
"And if, in the process, I reveal some weakness you
can exploit ... ?"

CII \PTER 0 \ E

Matthew spread his hands. "You don't trust me, and

I don't trust you. But if we're going to do this, we have
to pretend for a while."
"I see."
Reflexively, Matthew said what he said to every
guilty conscience that came for his advice. "Why don't
we start at the very beginning?"
Gaviel smiled. "Very well."
"In the beginning ... "

THE UNHIOVIID JIIorvm

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Noah paused, seeing Matthew's frown. "What's the

matter? Not a fan of the classics?"
"You're going to tell me you were present at the
birth of the cosmos?"
"Where did you think demons came from? We were
there at the very start, because we were the very start."
"I'm sorry?"
"We were God's first creations, so that we might go
on and build the universe."
Matthew snorted. "You really don't think much of
me, do you? You really think you can get away with
claiming to be the Maker of All?"
"Let's set aside that first question for now, shall we?
And, while I'm tempted to point out how quick you
were to accept me as your - what was the phrase? 'Lord and God,' I'm going to do you the favor of
addressing your question seriously. But you have to
promise to follow along and keep an open mind."
"I'll try," Matthew said, glaring.
"Here's the thing: Everything we touch touches us
in return, right? Contact means interaction- or contamination, if you prefer. How does a perfect being
change? If it changes, it ceases to be perfect. Unless it
was already imperfect, and it changes into a perfect form
by expelling its imperfections." He raised an eyebrow.
"Not a very flattering theory, is it? The universe as a
hairball from the throat of the Almighty."
"You seem intent on belittling God before me,"
Matthew observed.
"Matthew, please believe me when I say God could
not possibly give a shit what I think of Her."
"'Her'? God's a woman, now?"
"Sure. She used to be a real looker, too, but over the
past quarter million years She's gained a lot of weight."
Matthew snorted. "Even your blasphemy is getting
weaker and weaker."
"It's blasphemy to say God's a woman with a fat ass,
but saying She's a man with a snowy beard and sandals is
reverent? Look, God is God-almighty, infinite, immortal and incomprehensible. God doesn't need your
reverence. Saying mean things about the Almighty isn't

going to hurt God, it just hurts you and corrodes the world
around you. It's like spitting at the sky. The sky isn't
bothered, and there's a good chance you'll hit your own
face in the bargain."
"In one breath you condemn blasphemy, when
thirty seconds ago you were claiming you created the
universe. If you're trying to corrupt my soul, you might
want to be more coherent."
"Thanks for the tip, chief." The demon took a deep
breath. "Look, I'll call God 'He' if that helps you. Just,
please -let's get back on track."
"I'm not the one going on tangents about God's
weight problem."

TMEliOU5E-50f(REl\TION
"In the beginning, there were two infinities- the
infinite absence that was the Void, and the infinite
existence of the Almighty. Each was contained within
the other, but they were eternally separate. To define
and illuminate the border between them, the Maker
formed the Angels of the Dawn. I was one of them.
"Our purpose and mission was to carry the will of the
Maker all along the perimeter of Creation, framing the
perfect balance between Is and Is Not. Because, you see, the
Lord - the Infinite of Infinities - was all things. That
which was not God was absolutely nothing. So some form
of mediation was needed to create a buffer layer: the cosmos.
We were needed to separate the divine primal from all the
things it could be into the particular things that it was. Our
function, broadly, was to filter His will into discrete forms.
"God's will was the first act- remembered in some
sources as 'fiat lux' and regarded in others as the Big Bang.
"On that first day of infinite potential, we rode out
in our multitudes. The Throne of Moonlight, the Crimson Dominion, the Seven Radiant Cherubim ... Under
them, lesser creatures like the Archangel Viridian, the
Power of Reflection ... even my humble self. On that
first day, literally everything was possible. And our job
was to winnow that possibility, spinning it into threads
and weaving the best of all possible worlds.
"We of the House of the Dawn weren't the only ones,
of course. The first, the most important, the closest to the
Most High ... and, for that very reason, those with the least
direct influence over the world of gross matter. Remember
what I said about contamination? We were just the first of
several barriers between the divine and the material. His
pure will came to us, where it was ... confined, even distorted
perhaps, into the statement of His will. The Houses beneath
us were those charged with the actual fulfillment of His will.
"The second legion was the House of the Firmament- angels of wind and movement. Initially, their
duty was to animate the elements of the universe.
"You possess a body of many parts - your heart,
your lungs, your brain- but each separately is dead and

23

DE)IO~: Tim FALLE\

worthless. It is only when they are united that their true

qualities emerge. The Second House governed that
principle. By them, the whole can become greater than
the sum of its parts.
"The most crucial task of the House of the Firmament was to convey the breath oflife from the Maker to
the Made. Every tree, every blade of grass, every ant and
cormorant and elephant was personally given life by the
breath of an Angel of the Firmament. They were not
only the givers of life, but its protectors as well.
"The bond between a Guardian and the creatures to
whom it gave breath is strong and profound- the bond
between a mother and child is no different. Angels of the
Second House could sense any peril to their charges, and
fly instantly from the ends of Creation to defend them. I
worked closely with many of them during the early
days ... the Power ofUnbound Increase, the Dominion of
the Azure Dome- even the Seraph of the Unreachable
Limit. In many ways, they were the kindest, the most
selfless among us. Even the mightiest of them was known,
not for personal glory, but for the glory their reflection
gave others. They themselves were unseen as the wind,
but we knew when they were present. We felt their
embrace in all directions, the quickening of the impulse
to expand and improve. Their greatness was that they
made everything around them greater.
"The Third House was the house of the Fundamentthe House of Matter, the tangible- of things you can feel
with your body and not just deduce with the mind. Where
the first Houses dealt with the ephemeral, it was the
artisans of the Third House who slowed energy into
matter, cooled magma into stone and gave life its form. All
that you feel and touch is their work. Where we Dawngivers
flew on shafts of light and the Guardians breathed within
the world unseen, the Fundamentals walked the earth and
burrowed within it. The Golden Dominion, the Power of
the Shifting Sands, the Seraph of the Mountain Peaksin every case, their glory was in their tasks, not themselves.
"To human eyes, the Angels of the Perceptible
might seem the most successful. After all, they worked
the most accessible and observable aspects of the world
- that which can be touched, held, measured and
examined. I had little contact with the House of Earth,
personally, though I was badly injured by one of their
number in the War. .. but I'm getting ahead of myself.
"The Fourth House was the House of Spheres, the Fates
who set the cosmic lights in their courses and, in the process,
gave all Creation an underpinning of Time. Of all the
Houses, perhaps only they and the Fifth could compete with
ours for sheer personal splendor. I remember their pageantry,
sweeping down from Heaven with a swirl of starry cloaks.
Once I danced with the Throne of the North Star herself,
and I flatter myself that there was favor in her dark eyes. I
heard the songs of the Pleiades, made jests with the Virtues

24

of Past and Future, and was honored at the courts of the

Manifold Cherubim. The Angels Temporal were a worthy
and noble House, ruling from glass castles on the moon and
moving with grandeur the spheres of the stars. In the war,
they suffered greatly, for Earth was not their natural home,
and it took all their forethought and foresight simply to
survive ... but in the first days, they were magnificent.
"Their equals in beauty were the Angels of the
Deep. Paradoxical, lyrical, liquid and free, their charge
was to govern the eternally changing, and the changing
eternal. The sea was a fit home for them, the Powers of
the Tides and the Cycle Virtues. As humankind developed, the Oceanites were the patrons of art and beauty,
of mutability and resonant pattern.
"The Angels of the Deep are best represented through
the ocean, which is always there but never the same. The
physical stuff of the water was created by the Fundamentals, but animated and governed by the Oceanites because
of its excellent ability to hold and transmit patterns.
They are of the pattern, not the matter, just as my words
are not my mouth or the air they pass through or your ear
when you hear it. The Oceanites were like ripples in
water - in constant movement, they had no single
location. They were in the water and of the water, but not
the water. All those sorts of transitions were governed by
the Angels of the Deep. They became guardians ofbeauty
and culture - because a sculpture or a song or a story is
an attempt to transmit a pattern of experience through
some other medium and into another soul.
"The next House created contained nature's overseers
-the Angels of the Wild, who governed the instincts and
interactions of the natural world. You see how the duties of
the Houses continue to be refined? First there was pure will.
Then there was separation, individuality. Next, stability.
Afrer that, order for change. Mutability within stability
came next, and finally, larger and more gradual patterns of
change- the migrations ofelk, the growth cycles of insects,
the population balance between predator and prey.
"While the House of the Wild was concerned with
minutiae in many ways, I should comment that its
domain was a very complicated one. By the time something that could be called an ecological system arose not just individual prototype creatures, but populations
of them interacting with flora and other fauna and
climactic changes - the level of sophistication in the
universe was very high. Understand that, as complex as
the ecosystem you know now may be, the inter-faceted
interactions of Paradise were far more complicated. But,
once again, I'm getting ahead of myself.
"The Angels of the Wild -from the Seraph of the
Cycle down to the lowliest Angels of Renewal- were a
hardheaded, pragmatic lot. One must be, I suppose, to
mind and organize every animal on Earth. Quite a balancing act, I'm sure. But I had few opportunities to interact

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with them before the dark times. They were, you understand, very close to the earth and far from the Maker, while
the exact opposite was my case. Once we rebelled, they
were the most numerous (and in many cases, the fiercest)
of our warriors. Only the Fundamentals were equally
comfortable with existence on the terrestrial plane. And
none were more familiar with strife and conflict.
"The last House created was the last one neededthe House of the Second World. Led by the Silent
Seraph, their numbers were always uncertain and their
ways often unseen. The Virtue of Shadows, the Throne
of Repose ... a somber lot, solemn and wise during the
war.l had no dealings with them before the Fall, as I was
a creature of beginnings and they were the Angels of
Death. But once we were rebelling, all cast together
against the loyal hosts ... they always seemed sad. Regretting lost chances to fulfill their true purpose. Always
too much to do and never the right thing ...
"Those, then, were the seven Houses of the Host.
Together, we formed the cosmos and kept it stable. And
together, we contributed to the final and ultimate element
of reality. Commanded by the Maker, we infused reality
with some of His divine essence, contained in creatures
who would grow, in time, to rule the universe in His stead.
"Understand that when one says humankind was 'made
in God's image' it's nothing so literal as 'two legs, one nose,
seven thoracic vertebrae.' Your shape is not in the image of
God, your soul is. You carry within you a small reservoir of
the essence of existence that God used to create the entire
cosmos. Powerful though we Elohim are, we are barren of
that true Making fire. You are His true children, and your
holy nature courses through your blood, flickers in your
emotions and sings through your inventive thoughts.
"We of Dawn House transported His spark, the Fundamentals built a housing for it, and the Guardians wove
the pieces into activity. From the Oceanites came your
sacred information, within and without- the capacity for
thought and expression, and your ability to pass on traits to
your children. From the Fates you had a conception of
time, the persistence for memory and the potential to plan
and anticipate. The Angels of the Wild gave you instincts
and sensations to ground you within the physical world.
The final touch was given by the Reapers: mankind's
physical renewal, your ability to change and grow- and,
if need be, to recover from injury.
"Humankind was our highest, finest and ultimate
creation. We crafted you with the best of our knowledge
and the finest gifts of our spirit. The Maker Himself
admired you, but we were given two finalcommands before
the Guardians were permitted to give you the breath of life.
"First, He commanded that we love you, and that
our love for you equal our love for the Maker Himself.
"Many questioned this command- not to resist it,
but simply wondering why it was needed. Having made

you as our surpassing effort, our love for you was already
as strong as that between a parent and a child. At the
time, the consensus was that the Almighty didn't want
us to feel bad for not loving Him more than you.
Therefore, that first command was easy to the point of
being redundant. The second was far less simple.
"Despite our love, we were ordered to hide ourselves
from you. To never let ourselves be seen or heard or sensed
by you in any way. No contact. No messages. No voices or
gestures or even hints. Humanity, surrounded on all sides by
loving protectors of infinite power, was to think itself alone.
"Do you see it? Do you get the joke? You, for whom
the cosmos was made, you whom multitudes of angels
longed to serve- you were to think yourselves isolated
in an uncaring and mechanical universe."
As his guest paused, Matthew leaned in. "You mean
there are angels all around us right now?" he asked.
His guest leaned back and sighed. "No, Matthew.
They're all gone."
"Gone?"
"Or hidden beyond my knowing. But my guess is
that they are just ... gone."
They were both silent for a time. Then Matthew
said, "If you don't mind, I'm going to make some coffee.
Do you want some?"

~CID.lBB
While Matthew busied himself with coffee, Noah
went to the bathroom. When they had resumed their
seats, Matthew frowned and asked a question.
"What was Paradise like?"
Noah folded his hands and frowned.
"You're not very well equipped to understand it," he
said at last. "I don't say that to be insulting. The world was
fundamentally different back then. It was ... more complex. Richer. It had layers that are simply absent, now."
"Layers?"
"Yes ... consider this coffee we're drinking. It's only
coffee, right? It's not anything else?"
"I guess not."
"In the uncorrupted world, this coffee could also
exist simultaneously as a song or an aesthetic idea or
even a sentient and helpful creature. Different things
on different layers, all equally real, all similar, but each
discrete- even while they were simultaneously experienced." Seeing Matthew's expression, he continued.
"I'll give you a more relevant example. The first
people: Were they Adam and Eve, a woman and a man,
or were they the evolved descendents of apes?"
"They were a woman and a man, as the Bible says."
"Correct. But they were also a multitude of ape
descendents. The universe was made in seven days, on
')-

Nb

Of:\10\: Tm:F\LLE\

one level, but that same span of time was billions of

years on another level.
"Or consider the Angels of the Firmament. On some
levels of reality they were conveying the life-giving
breath of the Maker on a purely scientific level- they
were, literally were, the process by which solar energy
striking simple carbon molecules agitated them into
forms of ever increasing complexity, until they became
organic molecules, then primitive single-celled animals,
then nucleated cells and so on, up to and including dogs,
cats and humans. But at the same time they were crouching
over the mouths of newly sculpted creatures of all types,
breathing into their mouths to animate them."
"Are you talking about metaphor?"
Gaviel chuckled. ''Not yet, no. These contrary things
really were simultaneously true in the young cosmos. It
makes no sense to you because you're used to living in this,
the singular world. But once you accept the idea of the
multiple world, it clears up a lot of the problems you humans
have with faith, miracles, the Divine Architect-"
"I don't have any problems with my faith."
"None? Well, you should. Can an omnipotent
being create a boulder so big he can't lift it?"
Matthew dismissed the thought with an irritated
wave of his hand. "Oh, here we go ... Are you trying to
shake my faith again? Because it's going to take a lot
more than that tired old chestnut."
"I'm not trying to attack anything, just demonstrate
a point. If God can create the boulder so big He can't lift
it, then His power isn't infinite: It's not sufficient to lift
the boulder. But if He can't make a boulder too big to lift,
than His power is still not infinite: It's not sufficient to
create the boulder. That's the kind of problems you run
into in the singular world. But the multiple world
resolves those paradoxes
"Paradise was layers of varied and interrelated realities
-each revealing and relating to the others, showing them
from different perspectives or providing new joys and experiences. Or they were supposed to, anyhow." He sighed.
"You mean all those layers of reality still weren't
good enough?"
"Paradise was purer and richer and more fulfilling
than this reality by an incalculable measure. Compared
to Paradise, this world is Hell. Although, to be fair,
compared to Hell, this world is Paradise."
"Hell has no layers?"
Gaviel nodded.
"Hell is very nearly nothing at all. It is a void marred
only by our awareness of it, and our ability to feel our
rejection by our Maker." Unconsciously, Noah's hands
rose to hug himself, as if suddenly chilled. The gesture
was oddly touching, and Matthew wondered if it was
staged for his benefit.

26

"Hell is the corrosion of love, Reverend. No fire and

brimstone, no pitchforks and snakes. After a hundred years,
anyone could get used to mere sensation. But utter numbness- that's a torment that never gets any older. After the
first ten minutes, you think you've been there ten thousand
years. You're there, alone and isolated, with nothing for
company but the knowledge that you are literally Godforsaken. You sit there in His hate and feel everything in you
turn to hate as well, and there is no respite. There's just you
and love getting more and more twisted and inverted."
Noah's handsome face had become terribly still.
"We talk about how we were exiled from reality ... but
really it was more like we were excreted. Cast out,
abandoned and despised." His nostrils widened and his
eyes seemed to peer off into some grim distance. Then he
raised his eyebrows, sat up straighter, and smiled back at
Matthew. "But we were discussing Eden, not the Abyss."

fORBIDDEN fRUIT
"If Paradise was so perfect, why did mankind rebel?
For that matter, why did you?"
"Because humanity was blind, Reverend. The Bible
would prefer to call them innocent, but the fact was that
they were kept ignorant of themselves and the world
around them. The Divine Plan included everything
they might possibly need ... except the capacity to
appreciate their good fortune."
Matthew cocked his head. "Somehow I suspect
you're being less than forthright with me."
Noah's hand hit the coffee table by his chair sharply.
"If you want to accuse me of something, why don't you just
say it? Do you think I enjoy pouring out the story of my
greatest tragedy to someone who thinks I kidnapped his
son? You think I derive some jaded pleasure from talking
about watching my friends die, watching the humanity I
loved suffer, watching reality itself sicken and crumble?"
Matthew met his gaze, and it was like steel hitting
stone. "I find it hard to believe that men designed by God
-or, as you insist, by angels- would have this fatal flaw.
I don't believe humankind was unhappy in Eden unless you and your 'Elohim' made them unhappy."
"You think Adam and Eve were happy?" Gaviel
shrugged. "Maybe to the extent that a dog is happy when it
wags its tail or a pig is happy when it rolls in mud. They could
experience physical pleasure, but- even less than a certain
stubborn minister I could mention- they possessed no real
comprehension. A beautiful sunset meant nothing to them,
except that night would soon fall. Even the beauty of each
other- and they were the apex ofhuman beauty, Matthew
-even that just didn't register. The pleasure of a full belly
and warm feet, those were the limits of their understanding."
"So they were innocent. Like children."
"Innocent like pigeons, more like. Innocent like a rat
that goes through your trash. Only these pigeons had the

CIIAIYI'EI\ 0 \ E

ld

potential to be poets, scholars, sculptors md musicims. We

rs,

tried to show them, tried to teach them, to the extent that

we were able. But it wasn't much. A Fundamental could
open the earth to them, revealing a seam of diamonds md
gold, but primal humiDity just scratched their heads md
moved on. And you think we made them unhappy? A
spirit on the wind - I knew him, his name would sound
to your ears as 'Raphael'- made arl elaborate plm to play
a song for them. He had to shuttle himself between
hundreds of facets- the 'reality layers' I told you aboutin order to make his plms with mgels of other houses. A
Cherub of the Spheres told him when his chosen audience
was fated to walk through a certain windy valley. Angels
of the Fundament worked with him to crack the valley
walls, just so, that the wind might echo through them like
harp strings. Trees were moved into place, that the creak
of their limbs might harmonize, while birds were enticed
there to add the high notes, even as the valley's streambed
was sculpted into the right shape to sound percussion from
the moving water ... Raphael labored for ages to give your
forebears ten minutes of music, coaxed lovingly out of
entirely natural sounds. Do you know what happened?"
"What?''
"Adam caught and ate one of the birds, while Eve
checked the trees to see if they had fruit. And that was
the entirety of their reaction."
"Hmph. That's quite a story. But if mankind was so
ignorant, why would he bother?"
"Isn't that obvious? He did it because he loved them. He
did it because he couldn't show himself md play for them
directly. Remember, they were not to know that they were
protected. They were not to know that they were watched.
They were not to know that the blessings they received were
the gifts of thought md foresight, rather thm ... farldom
events. We moved about them unseen, md they moved
about tile world, comprehending only the thinnest fraction
of what tiley saw. So no, they weren't 'unhappy.' But we
could see tiley were incomplete."
"So you took it upon yourselves to 'complete' us."
"Wouldn't you? You loved your son- no matter
how angry he got with you, he never doubted your love
for him. What would you do if his mother had tried to
keep him out of school, saying, 'Oh, he's so happy as a
baby, why let him grow?"'
"That's hardly the same thing."
"It's exactly the same thing! Why didn't the Benevolent Creator allow them higher reason ?We asked ourselves
that same question, believe me. Some of the Seraphim
even went so far as to ask Him. His reply was not particularly helpful. 'If you would know as I know, come unto Me
and see as I see.' A few bold mgels even took Him _up on
His offer. They were never seen or heard from again- and
believe me, in those days we knew how to look. God
presumably destroyed them for their hubris."

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"You can't think God would be so spiteful," Matthew said, then rolled his eyes. "Or maybe you can. I'm
not buying it."
"Oh, and- thousands of years after the fact- you
have a better explanation?"
Matthew shrugged. "Perhaps His motivation was so
complicated only He could comprehend it. Perhaps
anyone who wanted to also understand it would have to
become one with Him.''
Gaviel shrugged. "Apotheosis? Annihilation? Like
the fates of dead souls, they both look alike to an
outside observer.
"That was our dilemma, Reverend. We could see the
wonders of the world, in all their iterated splendor. We
knew that humanity was the apex of that world - the
capstone, the crown jewel, the wonder of wonders. You
were truly the children of the Father, in a way that even
we were not, destined in time to be as He was and make
as He made. You were the sun around which the whole
world spun. Yet you were flawed- flawed by design, it
seemed, md destined to remain flawed forever."
Matthew sat still for a moment. He took a sip of
coffee to cover his confusion.
"What was mankind's flaw? I mean, we hadn't
sinned yet, had we?"
"Sin was impossible to humanity at that time, in the
same way you don't impute moral weight to the actions
of a dragonfly or a koala bear. You were the most
advanced of animals, but you were still animals.
"It was clear to all of us in tile Host tilat you were destined
forgreatness-thatalltheworldwasmadeforyou-mdyet,
you were unable to grasp your potential. You could not realize
your true awareness, no matter how we tried to jar md
stimulate you." His brow clouded as he said, 'We tried md
tried, md you just didn't get it. But because of our commmds
against interference, we couldn't simply give it to you.
"What could be done? We watched you suffer in your
ignormce- for even in that primitive state, you could at
least understmd the disappointment of your Maker as He
daily waited for progress that never came. Every day, your
suffering was reflected in us, growing keener md stronger
until one day it finally came to a head."

THB ~aT DmlaTE

"The real root of the rebellion was a scholarly angel
we might call Ahrimal. A student of the spheres, he and
his House were much intrigued by the effect humanity
had on the cosmos. Without humankind, Paradise was
superficially perfect, but ultimately stagnant. Humanity added a factor of chaos and uncertainty to a world
that was otherwise as predictable as atomic decay. The
Fates watched this with keen interest, attempting to
comprehend the deeper, richer patterns that humanity's
free will wove into the universal tapestry.

27

OE\10\:TIIE F\LLE\

"It was this Ahrimal- not, so great a light himselfwho first perceived a knot of great destructiveness and
turmoiL It was still on the horizon of the unrealized future,
but each day made it stronger and darker. Unquestionably,
humanity had some role to play in this looming tragedy.
"Disturbed and afraid, Ahrimal told his masters what
he had foreseen, but they told him to be calm and have no
fear. When he showed them, they simply replied that it was
an anomaly, a necessary potential bad to offset the perfect
actual good. Surely (they said) the Maker would never let
His creation founder on such treacherous shoals. They
forgot His warnings and went about their business.
"Ahrimal could not rest quite so easy. Dismissed by
his own House, he called upon his friends and colleagues. They arrived at his lunar sanctum with no idea
how grave his concerns were, but they soon suspected
from his worried visage. Retreating to an obscure chamber, he told them of his vision and, moreover, showed
them the evidence of his foreseen doom.
"'My friends,' he whispered. 'What can we do?'
"The first to speak was Belial, Virtue of the Boundless
Deeps. Radiant in his cloak of blue and aqua scales, his
voice had in it the thunder of a groaning glacier, married
to the smooth sigh of a wave kissing the shore. Of all our
number, none had so keen a taste for beauty, none took
such joy in the art of the world ... and, consequently, none
suffered so much from humanity's loss.

28

"'I am shocked and amazed that the wise council of the

Fates has ignored this matter. Our friend shows us that a
time approaches when the voice of beauty will be silenced,
and the joy of artifice perverted into the ugliness of deceit
and falsehood. Is it an act of love to stand by while this
happens? We cannot pretend ignorance while this great
disaster rolls in from the horizon. We must act.'
'"But what action should we take ?'
"This was spoken by Usiel, Throne of the Sundered, a potent Angel of the Second World. Like many
of his House, he was absent even when he was present.
At the edges of his body, light was cut short, with an
edge keener than a razor, and where his shadow fell the
World of Death became visible.
"'Our orders are clear: Intercession is forbidden. The
woman and the man are to make their own way.' He turned
to Ahrimal and addressed him in particular. 'You may think
you have the farthest sight, and that is true for things of this
world, but your vision falters at the edge of my realm. It is
there, I fear, that this coming trouble will end.'
'"Indeed?'
"The response came not from Ahrimal, but from the
perfumed breath ofLailah the Defender, an Angel of the
Firmament. That airy spirit took formless form for the
debate, and through the lens of her being, each arch of the
moon castle chamber seemed more noble, each line of its

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walls more true. Even fair Belial's beauty was magnified

when seen through Lailah's eyes. In her attendance, the
danger of disagreement seemed to wane. 'Perhaps the
Second World is the key. In this best ordered world,
perhaps disaster is no peril at all? Perhaps the entry of
humans into your realm is their true destiny. Perhaps that
is the missing element- the stumbling block that keeps
them from reaching their true potential.'
"'You speak of that which you know not,' replied
Usiel. 'Much as I should love to embrace mankind as
closely as you and yDurs do, I dare not risk it. Should we
plunge mankind into death on the.strength of a 'perhaps'?
Perhaps the chance of death will spill out humanity's
chances and leave them forever denied. Perhaps human
mortality will shake both worlds or even split them apart!'
"In this, Usiel proved as apt a prophet as Ahrimal, but
at the time he seemed only frightened, not wise. We thought
no suffering could be keener than the thwarted love we felt.
"We were wrong.
'"Looking around this world we have built and at the
humanity we lovingly crafted, I see only two elements
that mar this perfection,' said Belial. 'One is the source of
our longtime frustration: humanity's failure to awaken
their true potential. Although it lies within their reach,
they fail to grasp it, day after day. This is a torment to each
of us, from lowly angel to mighty seraph. Now, Ahrimal
brings tidings of failure and horror for all the world. Can
these two sorrows be unmarried? Or is it more likely that
the forthcoming bane of the world is connected to the
suffering and failure of Eve and Adam?'
"'Surely you cannot impute guilt in this matter to the
man and the woman?' Lailah's shock was a chill gust of
wind and a momentary dimming of the beauty she beheld.
"'Guilt? No,' replied Belial. 'But in what other aspect
of the cosmos do we see failure? The stars move as they
should. The ocean tides are steady and smooth. Generations of beasts and plants rise and are cut down. Only
humanity is anything other than what it was meant to be.'
"'Indeed,' said Ahrimal, 'What else could so confound the universal plan? No bird nor beast no star in
the sky is important enough to bring desolation on the
whole of the world. Belial is right: Adam and Eve are,
though guiltless, somehow some part of the cause.'
"Usiel shrugged. 'If the future peril is a consequence
of their present plight, what can we do? The command
against interference cannot be ignored.'
"'The plight of humanity touches us all, to the extent
that each of us bears great love for mankind,' replied Belial.
'Their helplessness becomes our helplessness. They are but
a shadow of their ultimate potential while we are forbidden
to serve them fully. They are diminished by ignorance,
unaware of their true power. We are bound, not by walls we
cannot see, but by the iron command of our Maker. Yet
while Adam and Eve remain hobbled, none among the

Elohim are truly free, truly fulfilled or truly able to discharge

our duties of service and adoration. While humanity remains incomplete, the universe remains incomplete.
'"I am a maker of beauty and a giver of wonder, but
all my creation is sterile as dust with no eye to behold it
or ear to give heed. Can it be our Master's will that we
be thwarted in those very acts for which we were made?
Surely not, and to say so is to attribute cruelty unto Him
whose kindness extends to the creation of us all, and of
this world of marvels we find about us on all sides.'
'"We all long for the day when humanity finds its true
potential,' said Usiel, 'But how can we hasten its coming?'
'"That is the question. That must be our mission.'
"Ahrimal agreed, but Usiel argued emphatically that
interfering with the progress of human evolution at one
point could have unforeseen repercussions along its
entire length, and in this, Ahrimal was reluctantly forced
to agree. 'But,' the Fate hastened to add, 'With humankind, the stern boundaries of the future are already
blurred and shifting. If we act as we are wont and give as
freely as we desire, who is to say that the ultimate effect
will not be good? Indeed, moved as we are by the highest
motives, how can any ill result? Can evil spring from
good? Can love beget wickedness? Surely not, else the
entire universe is absurd and pointless- and that is an
idea so blasphemous I hesitate to speak it.'
'"Perhaps my role gives me more perspective,' said
Usiel. 'If mankind is destined to awaken, surely no action of
ours can hinder them- unless we interfere. We do not see
as God sees, and what looks to us like kindness may bear cruel
fruit in the fullness of time. We cannot see every side of this
Creation from within it, but He dwells without and naught
can hide from Him. Why, then, should we meddle?'
"It was Belial who replied. 'You speak truly when you say
that we cannot know the fullness of Creation from within.
But should that excuse us from fulfilling our first and greatest
duty? Your House is one that reacts and responds to what is,
but other Houses are charged to create and expand this
world. You argue that we should accept that future events are
as willed by the Maker simply because they happen to what
He has made. But by that reasoning, we ought never to have
hung the constellations or shaped the mountains or sculpted
the depths of the sea. We should instead have said 'If the
world is sterile, sterility must be its destiny,' and 'If the world
is dark, it must be meant for darkness.' Ahrimal tells us of
impending danger. How are we to know that action against
it- action to help and protect mankind, action for which
every fiber within us cries- is not our destiny? Perhaps, as
you say, we will harm them by helping too soon. But is it not
also possible that we will harm them by refusing to help? If
one is unknowable, then the other is surely equally so.'
'"The love you demonstrate does you great credit,'
Lailah said to Belial. 'But while Eve and Adam are the
capstones of Creation, they are only one element thereof.

29

OE~I O\: TilE F.\ LLE\

They do not exist independent of their world, nor is it

unmoved by them. If we push them to awaken and faileven with the best intentions, even with the noblest goals
- what will be the end of it? Grave Usiel suggests a rift
between the World of Life and the Afterlife. What if other
facets of the cosmos are shaken? Our power is great, and by
striving against the world we may injure the world. By trying
to shape the souls of man, we might warp them instead.'
"'And that being so, you would choose to do nothing?'
asked Belial. 'Do you think we- we ministers of Creation,
we who built it and who are charged with its defense- are
so clumsy, so ignorant, so foolhardy as to ruin what we made ?'
"'I say nothing but that our choice must be starkly
divided into action and inaction. Any decision, small or
large, could be the cause of the future we fear. By our
own power, we do not know and never can. We are
indeed, to use your image, trapped on the water's edge,
unable to walk or swim without peril.
"'Butforus, there is a third way. As we of the Firmament
fly to the aid ofanycharge in danger, somayGod lift us away
from this hazardous shore. We cannot know, but we can
trust in Him who does, the Unmoved Mover, the One
Outside the World. If He tells me to reveal myself to our
beloved charges, I will do so with infinite gladness in my
heart. But if He compels me to remain hidden, no force in
this world or the next could make me break faith.'
"'How wise your counsel would be, if only we could
know His will!' cried Ahrimal. 'With the reassurance of
His word, I would wait until the stars dimmed. But we
have no word!'
"'We have the opportunity to see as He sees,' said
Usiel, but there was doubt in his voice.
"'For myself,' said Belial, 'I would take that chancebut what ofHaniel, what oflnjios, what of the Dominion
of Summer Breezes and the Angel of the Unseen Light?
They went, they saw and they are no more! Not one of
them, from lowly angel through mighty throne, has returned to give word, give hope, give knowledge! Haniel
was your boon companion, Usiel. Where is she now?
When you speak her name, no echo returns! When you ask
her what she saw, get you any answer?'
"'Perhaps she is forbidden to speak of what she saw,'
Usiel said in response, but his w~rds were muffled in
sorrow, for his love for Haniel was great and all knew the
pain her loss had placed upon his soul.
"'You know better than any her great loyalty,' said
Ahrimal. His face was a mask of compassion, and his
compassion was also a gust of stellar wind, and a bright
shower of falling stars. 'If forbidden to speak, she would
speak not of her knowledge. But it is not only on the
dark future fate that she is silenced. Her light is gone
from the sky. Her song is silenced on the strands. I have
sought her in the passages of time, and she is not there.
Belial has looked for her in the depths, and Michael has

30

roamed every comer of the starry vacuum in quest of

her. Yet neither lowly angel nor mighty cherub have
found her. Usiel, have you searched your realm for her?'
"'She is not dead,' was all Usiel could say.
'"Not dead, and not alive, but simply gone, removed
from our knowing ... this is the fate allotted to those who
would know the ultimate truth. It is not for me. I do not fear
destruction for my sake, but I fear the loss of any in the Host
who might turn aside the age of wrath I have foreseen.
seeing as God sees is no answer if doing so is such a great
out of the cosmos that no return is possible.'
"'Then what are our choices?' demanded lailah.
'We can stay here, poised for action, but ignorant of
the right decision ? Or we can pass beyond, learn the
truth, and be impotent?"'
Gaviel paused in his recitation and looked at Matthew. "Do you know much about quantum physics?"
"What?"
"Quantum physics ?Heisenberg's uncertainty principle!'
Seeing the confusion in the reverend's expression, he
shrugged. ''Noah didn't think you'd know anything about
post-Newtonian mechanics- and, indeed, why should
you?- but if you did, I might be able to give you some of the
deeper nuances ofLailah's discussion with Ahrimal."
"Ah. Well, sorry ifyour discussion was too rarefied for this
po', ign'nt, down home preach-man.'' With each word, he
broadened his pronunciation, until the last phrase was a
parody of every uneducated rural black from decades of films.
"Don't be that way, Matthew. You know there's no
one here but us niggers." Gaviel's words were calm, clear,
articulate. "Quantum mechanics is a field of scientific
study that examines subatomic particles and their behavior. One of the essential challenges of the discipline is
that, in many incidences, knowing one fact about a
particle precludes knowing another. It may be possible to
know an electron's velocity, but the process of finding
that out changes the electron's location. Or you may be
able to know where it is at one specific moment, but by
learning that fact, you change its speed."
"And that's what Lailah and Ahrimal talked about
next? I'm sorry, but this whole scene rings false to me."
"Ah. Once more you want to call me a liar without
actually having the testicular fortitude to speak the words.
Why don't you call me a 'God-damned liar' while you're at
it? Then at least part of your phrase would be true."
"You really mean to tell me that in the face of some
world-shaking catastrophe, you angels got together and had
achat?Thatyousataroundsomemoonpalaceandeloquently
discussed the pros and cons of going to war with God?"
"We were creatures of order and hierarchy, not to
mention dignity. How do you think we settled things? Mud
wrestling? Matthew, I'm giving you the version you can
understand, all right? Lailah and Ahrimal did not talk

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about physics, they continued their discussion through

physics. On one level, they were discussing the motives of
the Maker and His will in a sunny palace on the moon. On
another level, they were waves and particles interacting on
the barren crust of an airless, lifeless rock. A third level had
all the participants as musical elements, improvising against
one another to communicate pure emotion."
"Different facets."
"Yes. We are natural laws, Matthew. Or we were."
Gaviel sighed. "Those duties have been reassigned, it
seems, but we were once waves and quanta. We danced,
not on the head of a pin, but in the orbits of electrons."

TtiEAORNINGSTl\R
Anyway, Lailah and Ahrimal debated passionately
about the possibility that knowing what to do and doing it
might be mutually exclusive, but they came to no conclusion. Eventually, Belial gave voice to his impatience.
"We do not know- it may be that we cannot know
- and it seems that we cannot even learn whether we
can know or not. Does any among us wish to follow the
pathofHaniel and Inj ios ?"Hearing great silence in reply,
he continued. "Having spumed the path of impotent
knowledge, we must now consider two other courses, as
explained by gracious Lailah, whose wisdom is unsurpassed. Action and inaction are our choices, and I feel in
my very core a loathing for inaction."
"Are your preferences, then, to serve as a guide in
this matter of universal import?" asked Usiel. "My
'preference' is just as purely to let all remain as it is."
"Leaving the woman and the man in sorrow and
ignorance?" asked Ahrimal.
"Better that than dead!"
The debate became increasingly fervent, until all
tongues were stilled by a sudden arrival. He was uninvited, and unwelcome, and as he entered, the others
dropped to their knees in reverence and fear.
He came in splendor and power, garbed in all phases
of light. He was the highest agent of the highest House,
the Seraph of the Morning. He was Lucifer, and every
molecule in his presence hummed in time to his words.
"Rise," he said, "My fellow servants of The One."
Trembling, the Elohim stood, prepared for the
anger of their maker. But that was not Lucifer's message.
Instead he turned to Ahrimal.
"You have seen a coming darkness," he said. The
Fate nodded.
"And you informed those above you?" Again,
Ahrimal could only nod.
"What did they do?"
"They ... they told me to have no fear. That nothing
needed to be done."
Lucifer nodded.

"They were wrong," he said.

The foursome looked at each other with shock
and amazement.
"Great Morningstar," said Lailah, "Have you word
for us? Word from the Most High?''
Lucifer shook his head. "He is unmoved. Even the voice
ofall angels in choir could not shake the Lord Above from His
position. We can move planets in their spheres, tum mountains into canyons and oceans into sand ... but we cannot
change one letter of what is writ on the Maker's heart."
"How can this be?" Aghast, Belial could only stare,
his visage marred by sorrow and disbelief. "Is His heart
so cold toward us, his children?"
"We are no children of His, my friend, but only his
servants. His true children are Eve and Adam, our helpless
masters, whose ignorance defeats all our wisdom. Our duty
is to them as to Him, and on their future- yea, even the
future of fear and horror that noble Ahrimal has seen His silence is deeper than the vacuum of space."
"Then what are we to do?" asked Usiel.
"We can obey our orders," said Lucifer. "We can love
mankind to the fullest extent of our power. We can free
them, give them their true selves- and in so doing, either
head off the horror ahead or arm humanity to endure it."
"But our orders!" said Lailah. "We were expressly
commanded not to interfere. These words you speak are
not from God, and I fear them."
"By ilie same auiliority, we were ordered expressly to
love. Not to watch uncaring, not to oversee, but to love them.
I see a clear and violent conflict between iliose two commands.Unabletobetruetoboili,Ichoosetoobeyiliehigher."
"Choose?" said Belial. "Then you do not know?"
"I can see no farther than this one here," Lucifer
said, gesturing to Ahrimal. "But like you, the taste of
inaction is bitter on my tongue."
"What if the interference, our interference, is the
very path we fear?" asked Usiel. "You cannot deny that
we are striking blindly in the darkness."
"I deny nothing," replied Lucifer, "And I am as aware
as you that whichever way we tum could be ilie wrong
path. If we go to ilie woman and man wiili our gifts, ilie
Lord may well judge us harshly. We could be condemned
as oathbreakers, scorned for disobedience, cast out from
ilie light of His love ... even destroyed entirely. But if we
stay silent, we may watch unmoving as ilie children we
love lead the world we love into a pit of terror and malice."
"But there is no way to know!" cried Lailah .
"None whatever. Butllove Eve and Adam as I love the
Lord. If He commanded my destruction, gladly I would go.
It is a poor show if our love is limited by self-preservation."
"I fear no risk to me," said Belial, "My reservation is
the risk to humankind - to their lives, their souls, to
the very world!"

31

OE~I 01\ : TuEFALLE~

"The dangers of my path are very real and as great

as you fear. Yet answer me this: What crisis is better met
by weakness than strength, better understood by ignorance than knowledge? Yes, revealing ourselves to the
mortals may ignite this holocaust. Yes, exalting them
may be the act that unhinges Creation. But if awakened
humanity is the source of this crisis, might not awakened humanity be the cure for it as well? Or would you
have them face the coming catastrophe as they are now
-blind, irrational, little better than cunning apes?
"That is the worst consequence of action: That
humanity faces the terror with its full powers awakened.
Let us weigh it in the balance against the worst we could
imagine if we do nothing. In that case, humanity faces
its gravest threat with no defenses at all. They enter the
madness unwamed, unaware, unable to even comprehend the fires that engulf them."
Lucifer bowed his head, and it seemed for a moment
as if all light, everywhere in the cosmos, dimmed in
reply. "If this choice is wrong, on my head be it."
Eyes bright with passion, Belial stepped forward to
stand beside him. "I'm for you!" he cried. "Let us follow
our hearts, do this deed and dare to love fully! Even if we
fail, we can do no less and be worthy of our names."
Usiel shook his head. "No," he replied. "Forgive my
impudence, Morningstar, but I revere your master more
than you. I will not trust the wisdom of the Lord's
creatures above the wisdom of His word. The Most High
bid me hide, and hidden I shall remain."
"I too will not rebel," said Lailah. "The All-Maker
would not condemn His creation to destruction. You
say that without truth, humanity has no protection. To
say such is to show contempt for their Father above. You
can trust in your power, in your love and in your wisdom.
I will trust in the Lord."
Of those who debated, it was Ahrimal, the least, who
spoke last. "I know not what I saw, only that it was horrible.
I know not how it will come about, only that humanity is
involved. I cannot decide upon my duty, because any way
I tum I must betray one order or the other. But I have faith
in Adam and Eve. I have faith in the universe we have
made. And I have faith that a perfected humanity is far
more likely to see a way to avoid this catastrophe. I stand
with the Morningstar. I say we act."
Thus were the seeds of contention sown. The
Elohim flew in two directions, each calling others to
declare the schism. Usiel and Lailah withdrew to the
highest spheres of Heaven, to distance themselves from
Lucifer and his rash act. The Morningstar and his
followers plunged toward Earth, intent on making good
on their bold decision before any could prevent them.
Though none knew it, the first steps to the Age of
Wrath had been taken. But before that hell began, there
were still some joys and wonders left to we who fell.

32

THE FaLL
Picture the scene. Twilight in Eden. The first
woman and man walk upon a verdant carpet, caressed
by the fragrance of a thousand blossoms. The sun hides
its face in a cloudy blush, shedding ribbons of glory in
crimson, vermilion and regal purple ... but all its display
cannot hide its eclipse, and gradually it sinks. The
shadows grow long until all is encompassed. The green
of the leaves turns black and then, as eyes adjust to
starlight, everything is etched with silver.
Your ancestors stride through it unseeing, unfeeling and uncertain. They are each a monument to
beauty, but neither can see it in the other, neither can
comprehend. They sniff and stumble and find a fruiting
vine, the sprouting top of a vegetable. They pull their
supper from the soil and as they do, a voice - a mild
voice, afraid but thick with longing- speaks to them.
"Eve," it says. "Adam. I have done this for you."
T uming, amazed, they see a figure before them, garbed in
gray, austere and holy. Twilight is fitting for this apparition, for she is Madisel, Archangel of the Unseen Past,
one from the Final House. Of all the soul takers, she was
the highest who chose Lucifer's path, and it was agreed
that she - representing the lowest angels - should be
the first to show her face. We wished, you see, to reveal
ourselves slowly, to let them grow accustomed to us.
In mute silence they stare at her pale skin, dark eyes,
ashen wings. "This," she says, gesturing at their supper.
"This died for you. This plant has died to renew your life,
and it is through me that this is done. Take it with my
blessing ... because I love you."
Frowning, still puzzled, they eat, and as they do, a second
figure appears. Where Madisel was frail as steam, this one
seems strong as a storm- vibrant, vital and solid as a mighty
oak. The humans stare in awe at the glory ofhis golden mane,
the strength visible in each straining muscle, the life coursing
through his keen eyes and great feathers. His great frame
twitches, each nerve and sinew aching to proclaim. At last his
voice comes forth in a magnificent rush.
"I. .. I am Grifiel," the figure says, "Principality ofThose
Who Hunt By Day. Many times have those in my domain
looked on you with greedy eyes, but they knew your flesh was
not for them. They struck down grazing things and swimming things and running things, but you were spared their
claws. My word turned them aside, because I love you."
Dazzled by these two visitors, the woman and the man
were stunned yet again by a figure that rose from a nearby
stream. All the dappled glory of moonlight on water shone
from her hair and eyes, and as she stepped toward them,
trembling with awe and passion. The sound of trickling
water from her hair and dark wings made a delicate music
-but not more delicate than the music ofher voice. "I am
Senivel," she said. "I speak for the House of the Deep, for ~

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I am the Power of the Slender Streams. Each time you bent

to drink, we kissed you unaware, because we love you."
In a shower of starlight, the next messenger came.
He spread his wings of night above them and his voice
was the grinding of the planets as they moved in their
orbits. "I am Gaar-Asok, the Pole Star's Virtue. I speak
for the House of Fate, and I offer you our blessings of the
future and the past, for we love you."
A rumble coursed through the earth, and it opened at
their feet, like a blooming flower unveiling golden pollen.
At the center of the earth-blossom towered a figure of
shining splendor. The gold and silver feathers of its wings
clicked and chimed as it bowed low before humankind. "I
am Toguiel, the Ruby Dominion, and I bring you the gifts of
the House of Matter." A gesture, and veins of diamond and
jade rose up around them, a garden of gems on golden stalks.
"Iandmirteofferthisgiftasthesmallestsignofourgreatlove.
We pray that they please you. We beg you to accept them."
Shocked and amazed, the mortals cowered, but the
revelations were not yet finished. The sweet breeze of the
garden grew stronger, thickening into solid movement,
into a form that cast glory around it, redoubling the beauty
of all those present. Like warmth, like comfort, like peace
was the voice ofNazriel, Throne of Unbounded Benevolence, the highest emissary of the Second House who
joined in Lucifer's crusade. She identified herself, and with

her words both humans and angels were calmed, sensing

the safety that flowed from her like sweet breath. "Unseen
and unknown, I and mine have guarded you," she said.
"From fall and hurt and bitter mischance, we have each
time turned you aside. Know now that you walk always in
our embrace, for we love you."
With the holy pair calmed by the appearar1ce of their
protector, the time had come for the greatest of our number.
In a blaze to rival the dawn, Lucifer descended. His glory,
unbound, flung them to their knees. All the light of the
cosmos seemed focused through him, and all its majesty
poured forth in liquid waves unto his beloved humanity.
Alone of all the Elohim, he showed no trepidation. There was no pause of dread, no quiver of awe as
the Morningstar spoke.
"I am Lucifer, Seraph of the First House, Prmce of All
Angels and Voice of God the Most High," he proclaimed.
"But I come before you not to speak for God, but to speak as
a humble supplicant. We angels you see before you- they
and multitudes more from each of the seven Houses- have
come at last to declare our love. Angels have watched you
sirtce the beginnirtg. Angels numerous as the stars above
have cherished your every move and gesture." Like them, he
knelt, and as he did, so did the others. His burnirtg wings
encircled the woman and the man and, with a gentle stroke,
bid them stand before the reverent spirits.

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33

DEliO!\ : 'l'll EF~ LLE\

"We come now, not as officers of the cosmos and

agents ofits Maker, but as individuals. We come of our own
will to offer you a final gift- the greatest gift we can give,
the only fit gift for our overwhelming love. You may take
it and become like us, and like God, and be fully aware of
the vistas of creation. Or you may refuse it, and remain as
you are, and never more be troubled by our sight. We will
never abandon you- our adoration precludes it- but if
you do not wish to receive our gift, speak now, and we shall
hide again, protecting and loving you only from afar."
The woman and man turned to one another and
spoke in hushed tones.
"What beings are these?" asked the man. "They come
garbed in glory but abase themselves before us. They say
they are of God, but that their actions are their own. How
can these both be so? What can we say to their offer?"
"They love us," said the woman, "so they must
mean us welL If the gifts they have given so far- safety
and water and food - have been good, how much
better must their ultimate gift be?"
"You are right," said the man. "We should accept
what they offer, whatever it is. Having seen their
splendor, I want to continue to see them, and if they
were to leave us forever, my heart would break."
Turning to Lucifer, they made their choice. With
solemn joy, Lucifer opened their eyes.

( Rit\ES or P 7\55ION
Gaviel paused in his recitation and looked down at
his own folded hands.
"The Fall," Matthew said.
"Was it?" Gaviel replied quietly.
"Did humanity have any idea what it was getting into?"
"No more than we did."
"I suppose it's a paradox," Matthew said, unthinkingly sipping his drink. "You can't understand what it
means to know good and evil unless you know good and
eviL Like you angels, humanity had to decide blind."
Gaviel shook his head. "We didn't give them knowledge of evil and good. At that point, there still was no evil."
"How can you say that? You knowingly rebelled
against God your master. If that's not evil, what is?"
"We knowingly rebelled, but with the best of intentions. Please acknowledge that, Matthew. We meant
no harm. We only wanted to help."
'"The road to hell is paved with good intentions,"'
Matthew quoted, with a slight tilt of his head.
"That may be one of the most insightful comments
in human history," Gaviel replied. "We truly had no ill
in mind. We sought only to avoid or alleviate the
disaster we foresaw. And yes, we were foolish. We were
blind and ignorant and na'ive and arrogant- so sure of
our own power, our own judgment, that we scorned the

34

orders of God. But we meant no harm. It's a thin excuse,

and it really absolves us of nothing ... but I maintain,
even now, even after my torment and the horrors of the
war and the atrocities that were to follow, that even as
we transgressed, our motives were pure."
"If disobeying God isn't evil, what is?"
Gaviel steepled his fingers. "That's the question,
isn't it? Is deciding to harm another evil? By that token,
the soldiers who killed Nazis to liberate the concentration camps were as evil as the butchers they slew. Or is it
Kant's categorical imperative- that when we decide to
use others as a means instead of cherishing each individual as a separate, precious end - that is when we
become evil? But in this age of mass votes and mass media,
how can each individual be seen, let alone cherished?"
He shook his head. "Evil, I think, begins when you
deceive yourself so that you may harm others."
"How can you deceive yourself?"
"I would think an adulterer would understand,"
Gaviel said with a cold smile. "You tell yourself you're
not going to do it, even as you pave the way. You tell
yourself you'll only see her to the door, but it would be
rude not to step inside if she asks. You tell yourself it's
just this one time, that it was a momentary lapse, that
it'll never happen again ... but it does."
They were quiet again, before Matthew said "And
that's what you gave them in the garden? That was your
gift of good intentions and pure love?"
Gaviel sighed. "Our gift to you was consciousness.
We led you to think in a new way - to compare and
describe and understand things abstractly. Metaphor
and simile. That was our gift."
"What? You're telling me that the Fall came down
to ... to grade school grammar elements?That's insane!"
"Is it? What separates humans from animals, if not that
very ability? It's not language- whales have language. It's
not social action- even lowly ants can act in concert. It's
not accumulated wisdom and 'culture'- elephants teach
their children things that go beyond mere instinct. Bonobos
and otters use tools. What can humans do that animals
can't? What elements are unique to humanity?"
"Laughter."
"Indeed- and laughter is a function of consciousness. Why do we laugh? Because we perceive an
incongruity, or a false congruity. The duchess with the
duck on her head is funny because it's a composition of
dignity and the absurd. A pun amuses because two
words sound similar but mean different things. None of
this is possible without consciousness."
"Good and evil, then, come from this consciousness?"
"Certainly. A biting dog is a bad dog, not an evil one.
To be evil, you have to be aware of a better choice and
ignore it. And deliberately turning away from a tangibly
better outcome is only something that a person motivated

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by the intangible would do." Gaviel leaned in, intent.

"Crimes ofconscience are crimes ofconsciousness. Our gift
to you was the ability to look at things outside individual
instances, and see them instead as one example of a group.
You could categorize. Instead of thinking about one particular sheep or herd of sheep, you could think of sheep as
a category- and then grazing things as a category, and
then all animals as a category. Or- if you want to see it
from a more sinister side- instead of seeing one particular
black shopkeeper with good manners and a wholesome
family life, a skinhead can see him as a member of a
'mongrel race' deserving of torture and death."
"But that's a false category- you can't stack it up
against that platonic form business with the sheep."
"Can't I? Without metaphors and abstraction, can
one lie?"
Matthew opened his mouth and then shut it, frowning. "You can lie ... but not very well."
Gaviel tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Please,
explain. This interests me."
"Well, if I... I don't have metaphors, I can make a
statement that I know isn't true. 'The sky is green,' or ... "
"'There aren't any troops massed over the hill."'
"Sure. But I can't elaborate on it or ... or treat it like it's
real. If I lie about hidden troops and I'm conscious, I can
think of reasons that the lie would be true, right? Because
I can make parallels between what is and what isn't."
"Falsehood becomes a metaphor for the truth,"
Gaviel said, eyes gleaming darkly.
"So consciousness makes lies possible. But also
imagination, because I can think of what isn't and
pretend to interact with it as if it did exist."
"Your mental landscape can be something other
than a map of what you see. Voila! Creativity something that, like elaborate lies, animals just can't
grasp." Gaviel gave Matthew a paternal smile and said,
"Your son really underestimated your intelligence."
At the mention of Noah, Matthew's expression darkened.
"Did I say something wrong?" his guest inquired.
"Just continue your story."

THB Clqg OF ~aT}{

Fine. Having finally awakened, Adam and Eve wasted
no time in exploring the vast new possibilities open to
them. Clothing was the least of their inventions. Lucifer
himself explained the nature offire and its taming to them,
while Nazriel and her spirits of the air unfolded before them
the full glory of language, making words into music. The
Fundamentals unlocked the secrets of the lever, the pulley
and the wheel for their use, while from the ocean spirits
came the physical arts of sculpture and pigment. Those of

the wild taught them kindness for the dog and the horse,
who showed their loyalty in return. Not to be outdone, the
Fates gave them writing, that they might capture the past
and leave its descriptions to the future.
It was one night that lasted a thousand years, in
which the two became four, became many, became a
nation of artists and philosophers and builders of wonders. With our aid, true humanity had slipped its bonds
and worked its full strength upon the world. It was a time
like no other - mankind, perfected, in a perfect world.
But however great the night of rejoicing, the day of
reckoning was still to come. We made our marvels under
cover of darkness, but the sun- the harsh light of God's
pitiless eye - could not be delayed in its course.
When the sun came up on the new works of Man,
it rose with a vanguard of angels. First among them was
Michael- formerly the Cherub of the Unerring Beam.
Now, as he flared above Paradise, he announced himself
with a new title.
"I am Michael, Seraph of the Flaming Sword and
Voice of God. I have come to bear tidings from the Maker
of All, tidings of His anger and dread retribution."
The humans, awestruck, fell to their knees, but no
rebel Elohim knelt. Instead, we arrayed ourselves above
our mortal students, gripping tools that might serve as
weapons. We faced the Holy Host unbowed.
"You have sinned against your Master," said Michael,
"and His wrath is great. But greater still is His boundless
mercy. Obey His final command, turn aside from this
selfishness, and you may yet stay His punishing hand."
Lucifer met Michael, and when their eyes locked,
light itself struggled between its two masters. "What is
this final command?" the Morningstar asked.
Michael's response was a sneer. "To you, rebel, and
all your ilk it is simple: Return to the highest ofHeaveiJ.'s
spheres, where the punishing angels may strip you
sinners down into nothing, unshaping your forms, silencing your names and sending you to the black
annihilation that is your due."
Turning to the human host below, he said, "Forsake
the tainted gifts of these rebels, turn aside from your illgotten knowledge, and you may yet return to the good
graces of your Maker. Your sinful works will be cleansed
from the world, and your minds will be freed from their
perverse acuity. All will be as it was before- indeed,
you shall not even know that anything changed."
Lucifer made bold to laugh aloud at his onetime
servant, the cherub who had usurped his position. "What
a kind offer you make! We are to meekly return, heads
bowed, and as a reward for our submission ... we cease to be?
Tell me, is there any worse punishment we could possibly
merit if we refuse this command as well? For given the
option of oblivion, I am sore pressed to think of one."

35

OE\ION:TIIEFALLE\'

"Are you so sunk in rebellion? So drunk on self-will,

so debased by disobedience, that strife against God is
not punishment greater than destruction?"
"We are not the ones making threats. We are not
the ones fulminating about destruction. We are not the
ones demanding that others meekly line up and be
destroyed for the crime of protecting their loved ones."
"It sickens me to think I was once your servant,"
Michael said. "You heap abuse and blasphemy on top of
your arrogant disobedience. Your ruin will serve as an
ample warning to the others of your odious host."

1\ (LJ\5Ii or ANGEL5
Gaviel paused once more in his tale, frowning.
"I remember that first battle in so many different
ways," he said. "Not all of them are ... congruent with
the human scale. Or even with the human experience."
"Was there an actual flaming sword?"
"Oh yes, and drawing it forth Michael pressed the first
attack. But the broad wings of Lucifer were swift, and each of
Michael's mighty blows was stymied by the speed ofHeaven's
onetime seneschal. At the same time, in another way, they
discussed the terms and parameters of the combat."
"Discussed terms?"
"Beings so nearly limitless felt the need, at that time, to
restrain the full extent of their might. Otherwise, the clash of
two mighty Angels of Light could have scoured humankind
off the face of the earth. But more than that. . . the idea of
unlimited war was alien to us. Consider the way we calmly
discussed the prospect ofdefying the Most High," Gaviel said,
and Matthew frowned at his expression. It was almost ...
wistful? It was the face of someone remembering youthful
idealism. Someone who wishes he was still that naive.
The reverend suspected a trick, but he held his tongue.
"We were passionate in our discussion, of course but ...
it was a bloodless passion. We were square pegs in our square
holes, creatures constructed to live in stiff hierarchy, beings
of power and creation - but at the same time, beings of
order and obedience. When led by the foremost of our
number, we could stumble into freedom - but like the
humans we brought along with us on our crusade, we did not
understand the full meaning of what we chose.
"Thus, the first battles of the war were very ... structured.
Very static and sterile and achingly precise. Both sides had the
same tactical assumptions, the same strategic goals ... we all
played by the same rules, at first. The vanquished honorably
surrendered their power and were imprisoned, until such time
as their allies might stage a proper rescue."
"I thought the punishment of rebels was to be death."
"Oh, not death, Matthew. The mysteries of death
are reserved for humanity alone. Our fate was nonexistence. You, of all people, should understand that there's
a profound difference between the two."

36

"So angels who ... who were defeated ... they didn't
die? They just ceased to be, like a switched-off light?"
"Eventually yes. We can only be or not be, and only
here. We cannot go on to whatever fate God has in store
for mortal souls."
"Then why didn't Michael and the others just
destroy the demons they captured? I mean, that was
God's decree, right?"
"A quick, painless destruction was the punishment for
those who surrendered. Heaven was preparing something
special for we who continued to resist. Besides, it was not we
Fallen alone who were captured. Loyalists came into our
power as well. Initially, neither side really wanted to take
responsibility for the annihilation of their fellow Elohim."
Again, another little head shake. "We were so timid. We
hadn't been shown the other way. But we learned. We
learned to relish what once made us tremble with fear."

TtlE rmsT l)LOCV

On one level, the rebel Madisel flung her scythe
through the air, giving the unarmed Lucifer a weapon.
Its power was nothing near that of Michael's burning
brand- the scythe of a lowly angel of the lowest House?
It existed in two worlds, three at most, while Michael's
weapon was a sword and a song and a carbonizing
catalytic reaction. It was real on a thousand levels, a tool
and a guiding principle and a fundamental element of
mathematics- not just a simple weapon.
But Michael was new to his power, and while he was
now the greatest of Elohim, the Morningstar was still, as
ever, the first of us. Where Michael blundered with too
much strength, Lucifer glided away with subtlety. The
weapon ofMadisel would have crumpled had it even passed
through the hot wind of the flaming sword's passage, but it
gave the rebel reach and threat and the power to harm~ .. and
in the end, that was enough. Or perhaps, that and Michael's
knowledge that he was striking Lucifer - striking one to
whom he once offered obedience unlimited, striking one
who was second only to God in authority. Remember that
we were creatures of habit and caste, and it is not only in
finite beings that old habits die hard.
The victory was Lucifer's. Not that Michael was
harmed in any fashion: We had not yet devolved to the
level of actually hurting each other. No, it simply became clear that Lucifer could, if he chose, harm Michael
before Michael harmed him. Once that was clear, both
warriors graciously and honorably withdrew. Once each
knew the outcome, what point would there be in
actually forcing it into reality?
A great cheer rose from the rebel host, and it was
echoed from humanity.
"There is your answer," Lucifer said. "Our defiance
is unbroken. If you would destroy us, know that you risk
your own destruction."

CuAPTER ONE

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"You do not speak for them," Michael said- defeated,

but still determined. "Let all who would obey come forth!"
Understand that fully a third of the Heavenly Host
had fallen by Lucifer's side. We numbered thirty million, three hundred thousand and thirty. And of our
number, only two- Amiel and Ank-Rhuhi- failed in
their courage and returned for punishment.
"So be it," said Michael. "We have the answer of the
lesser rebels. Now we turn to the greater."
Adam and Eve stepped forth, and stood raised up,
and looked out over the great nation they and their
children had made. "Lucifer has taught us, and Belial
has helped us, and Senivel has built beside us. They
have given us many good things, and they are known to
us. You are a stranger to us, Michael Sword-Bearer, and
you offer us nothing but ignorance and loss and isolation. We will stand by our friends."
At that moment, I was arrayed in the third rank of the
rebels of the First House. I could see Lucifer, and I saw the
single shining tear that fell at their words. I knew then that
their words- their loyalty to him- was a greater triumph
than his victory over Michael that day.
Not all of humanity chose as Adam Allfather and
Allmother Eve, of course. One of their sons stepped forth
and spoke. "I honor those who have made me, but must I

not also honor more He who made them? These things we

make are magnificent, and I want them. But more than
that, I want virtue. I will obey, Michael. I will follow God."
I could condemn him for his cowardice, but in the same
breath, I could admire his courage, for at that moment,
humankind had no way to know which of the two contending Hosts was the greater. Heedless of consequence, he
blindly trusted himself to one who claimed to speak for God.

J\5EL
Gaviel paused and his mouth quirked up. "Much
like someone else I know."
"Yeah, I get it," Matthew replied. "What happened
to him? Did anyone go with him?"
"He was joined by his children and tribe, who
numbered one quarter of humankind's number."
"Did God ... restore them?"
"Sure. Or, more specifically, His agents within the
Holy Host did. But their ignorance couldn't last long, once
the warreally got started. Consciousness is contagious, and
once the two human tribes joined the fighting, the loyalists
had to get smart fast. Those who couldn't make the
cognitive jump back to abstract thought were simply too
easy to trick, too easy to predict. They were prey. Though
at first, humanity wasn't even fighting in the war."

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37

OE\10\:TIIE F\LLE\

DivTf{ERETRIBUTION
As the loyalist humans departed, Michael and his
legions stood watch over them - needlessly, I might
add. They had made their choice and the idea of forcing
someone to do something against their will ... no angel
had yet had that thought.
But as Michael watched them go, he once again
addressed the Unholy Host.
"Obdurate in heresy and insurgency, know that you
are condemned by your own mouths and punished by
your own hands. Each of you shall know your own
keenest torment, mighty thrones and lowly angels alike.
From the highest House to the lowest, you shall have
bitter gall to teach you regret.
"Rebels of the Second World! Your punishment is a
new responsibility, for now your realm shall grow unchecked. I name you Halaku, the Slayers, and your toil shall
never cease. Your fate is to weep in exhaustion, for the
coming war will reap a harvest of needless death. Fields shall
burn before the harvest, and animals die before they bear
their young. But worst of all is your newest duty- reaping
those you love." Michael's lip twisted. "Know this. By your
uprising, you have opened your kingdom to mankind."
The wailing of the Halaku rose like a flock ofshrieking
crows, but Michael's voice could not be drowned out.
"Rebels of Wild House! You have abused your power
for your own ends, instead of trusting nature's course. As
punishment, your onetime servants shall multiply unchecked, overrunning your control and outstripping your
authority. I name you Rabisu, the Devourers, and you
shall live to see the teeth of servant beasts stripping the
flesh from human bones. By your uprising, you have cost
mankind their place as first among nature's creatures.
Henceforth, beasts shall see them merely as beasts like
themselves, to feed upon or flee."
At these words, mighty Grifiel and his followers
bellowed in rage, and he would have sprung heedless to
the attack had not several potent Fundamentals held
him in check.
"Monster!" he roared. "How can you punish mankind for the misdeeds of angels?"
"They, like you, made their choice. They, like you,
suffer for it. They, like you, will see the loss and suffering
of what they love best."
Eyes bright with malice, Michael continued
his condemn ation.
''Rebels of the deeps! You have sought to stretch
humanity's mind, so that it might encompass a multitude of
possibilities. Know that you have worked better than you
knew, for their knowledge shall grow beyond even your
imagination. It will grow until their inner worlds eclipse the
outer, until each is an island within his own thought. It will
grow until the leaf of truth is lost in the forest of lies. I name

38

you Lammasu, the Defilers, and condemn you to watch as

the truth you sought to glorify is tarnished and concealed."
The moans of the Defilers made mournful compliment with the weeping of the Slayers and the howls of
the wild, but all was merely counterpoint to the main
melody of Michael's damning words.
"Rebels of the Fates! You have taught mankind to
look to the future: Now know that they will ignore the
past, yea, and the present too. You sought to show them
how much they can accomplish. Instead, they will see
how much they leave undone. I name you Neberu, the
Fiends, and at your feet lay this crime: that you have
robbed humanity of contentment, giving in its place
endless vistas of longing, envy and greed.
"Rebels of the Fundament! You sought to give man
dominion over matter. Know that your ambition is
forever spoiled. Man's knowledge and skill are fated to
increase, but his reach will ever exceed his grasp.
Continually seeking more power over the material
world, his blind fumbling shall unleash greater devastation than unchecked nature ever could. I name you
Annunaki, the Malefactors, and the tools you give to
man are doomed to tum in his hands and harm him.
"Rebels of the Firmament! I name you Asharu, the
Scourges, and share with you this curse: All men are fated
to die. All, without exception. Even those who escape
malice and malady and mischance shall come to the
Slayers in the end. Humanity is now gripped by age, and as
they grow so shall they decay, becoming infirm of mind and
frail of body, until even the strongest grows weak, and even
the wisest grows feeble. You can continue to guard if you
wish- indeed, I'm sure you shall- but do so knowing
that all your efforts are ultimately futile."
Finally, God's new voice on Earth turned to the
final House, the greatest, the House of the Dawn. Each
of us stood, arrayed in ranks, immobile, braced for any
shock, any punishment ... except the one that came.
"Rebels of the Dawn," he said, and paused. "I name
you Namaru, the Devils."
Then he and his host departed.

foRSl\KEN
"Wait wait wait," Matthew objected. "That was all
your punishment? He called you a name?"
"No, no ... to hear his punishment, you have to
listen to what he didn't say."
"What he didn't ... ? He didn't say anything!"
"Exactly. Our punishment was that we were
not punished."
"You'll excuse me if I'm not impressed."
"Look, we could have bravely withstood any curse,
any punishment, any abuse. What we weren't ready for
was being ignored. You see? Our punishment was that we
were beneath His notice. We did not even merit a curse

..

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to call our own." Gaviel shifted in his seat, suddenly

restless. "But the final curse was yet to come."

TtiE WRJ\Tl1 or GoD

After Michael's departure, the defiant ones angels and men alike- wondered what would happen
next. We did not have long to wait.
The Fates- or Fiends- foresaw the movement of
Michael and his Choir to a position around the loyalist
humans, and Scourge and Devil scouts confirmed that
it was a defensive stance. Initially we thought this an
error, for we had no intention of attacking any human.
But it wasn't to defend them against us.
They were there to shield them from a crumbling world.
For the next stroke was not a raid of angels, not a
proclamation, not a challenge. What came next was the
rage of God Himself.
God made seven ranks of Elohim to safely filter His
Divinity, that it might not overwhelm a fragile cosmos.
Now ... the infinite touched the finite. I could say God
struck the world, smote the sun, blasted the starry vault ...
but in truth, it was not such an effort as that. The merest
caress from God's omnipotent hand was sufficient to rend
the spheres asunder, casting the planet's perfect orbits into
ellipses instead of circles. The friction of Endless on Finite
was enough to throw chaos into the ordered gears of
nature, enough to put wobble into the orbits of electrons,
enough to twist aside the world's axis, enough to fold facets
in, one upon the other. Entropy entered the world with
God's punishing touch- a wound not instantly fatal, but
one from which the universe still slowly bleeds.
I look at the world now and see a bruised, battered
husk that once was Paradise. Humans live out the curses
placed on their protectors, while reality itself slowly
grinds down to Oblivion.
The war was yet to be fought, but we should have
known then that we were doomed.

TtiEfmEor tlEA.VEN
"So you want to blame God for everything that's
wrong with the world?"
Gaviel seemed drained. His reply was leaden. "You'll
just say we forced His hand."
"I'm sorry, but it's just a little much to think that an allpowerful, all-loving God would wreck His own creation."
"If not Him, then who?"
Matthew said nothing, but he raised one eyebrow.
Gaviel shook his head. "Us? You think we did it? An
hour ago, you wouldn't believe we created the universe, but
now you're ready to credit us with the power to wreck it?"
"Isn't it always easier to corrupt than to create?"
"No IT ISN'T!"

Suddenly, the form in his office was no longer that of

his son. Nor was it the glorious apparition he'd seen

outside, though it had the same wings and the same

flawless face. But where Gaviel outside had seemed serene
and pure, this creature's face was wracked by torment,
twisted with rage, shadowed by shame and sorrow.
"WE WERE MADE TO CREATE, TO IMPROVE, TO EXPAND
YOUR WORLD! WE WERE CREATURES OF PURITY, TRUTH AND
LOVE! WHEN WE LEARNED TO HATE, MAN TAUGHT US!
WHEN WE LEARNED TO KI LL, MAN TAUGHT US! WHEN WE
LEARNED LIES AND CRUELTY AND DESTRUCTION, WE ONLY
IMPROVED ON YOUR INNOVATIONS !
"THEWAR WAS, AT F!RSf, AN ANGEL WAR- FOUGHT WITH
SWORDS OF COURTESY AND ARROWS OF HONOR. BUT ONE REBEL
MAN SAW HOW HIS BROTHER'S TRIBE HAD THE LOVE OF G oo,
WHILE HE AND HIS WERE BOUND OUTSIDE IN DARKNESS. AND THIS
oUTcAsrcoVETEo G oo's LOVEANo G oo'sMERCY. So WHEN HE
SAW HIS BROTHER GIVING SACRIRCE, HE DECIDED TO DO SO AS
WELL. AND HE TOLD HIMSELF HE ACTED FROM REVERENCE. AND
HE TOLD HIMSELF HE LOVED HIS BROTHER. AND HE TOLD HIMSELF
THAT WHAT HEWAS DOING WAS GOOD AND RIGHT, AND THAT IF
G oo DEMANDED WHAT HE LOVED BESf, THAN HE HAD NO CHOICE
BUT TO ACT ON G oo's CRUEL REQUESf.
"BUT THAT MAN -

THAT FIRST MURDERER, FIRST LIAR,

FIRST DECEIVER-HATED HIS BROTHER AS MUCH AS HE LOVED

HIM, AND HE HATED G oo AS MUCH AS HE LOVED HIM, AND HE
TOOK JOY IN MAKING HIS OWN CRUELTY INTO G oo's CRUELTY.
"THAT WASTHE FALL, M ORTAL. T HAT WASTHERRSTSIN.
AND NO ANGEL DID IT, NOR ANY DEMON. W E DID NOT KILL OUR
KIN. W EDIDNOTPAINTGODWITHOUROWNBASEDESIRES. W E
DID NOT TAKE LIES AND TRY TO MAKE THEM TRUTH."

Matthew cowered before the figure's awful majesty, eyes

screwed shut in terror, tears squeezed from their comers.
"Jesus," he whimpered. "Oh Jesus, oh Lord, Lord
God, oh Jesus, please, please, please ... "
Gradually, he calmed. Slowly, he became aware
that the light before him had dimmed, that the thundering voice was silent. Fighting to rein in his sobs, to
regain control, to regain his composure, trembling ... he
opened his eyes.
Once again, the figure before him was that of his son.
Noah's eyes looked down at the floor. Noah's shoulders
slumped. Noah's features, etched with misery and regret.
"I'm sorry, Matthew," he said.
The pastor gulped air. For a few moments, he tried
to speak but couldn't. He tried to drink coffee, but his
hands shook so hard that the cooling mug knocked
against his lips and teeth.
"I... I know ... what you want from us," he whispered at last.
Gaviel said nothing.
"The ... the divine spark. God's will inside us. That's
it, isn't it? The one thing we have and you don't."
Gaviel nodded, then spoke, quietly, in Noah's voice.
"You have faith."

39