Diverting Armageddon Chapter 3

The Morning Star

By Citadel

On a faraway planet on the most outer reaches of the solar system an exiled angel was about to do the worst thing that he'd ever done in their entire life. The other was unknowingly helpless to stop him.

"So, Partle, why are we here?" Jonathan asked. The two men stood in a tremendous temple that covered the entire top of a mountain.

"We are here because this is where The Partisan is located."

"You don't mean,"

"Yes, I mean the partisan of all partisans. A spear that would make kings tremble."

"No way. I don't believe you. It's been hidden by the big man himself. I don't think that he would place it in such a grand and amazing place such as this."

"But it was tough to get in here, no? Wouldn't you say that any human would have an almost impossible time of entering this temple?"

"Yeah," Jonathan agreed. They'd had to scale one of the tallest mountains in the entire solar system against high winds just to reach the top. Even with their wings it had been a huge chore.

"It was difficult even for us!" He pointed out. "This has to be it."

"Why even bother, though. I don't even know I followed you up here."

"Because we're all we've got. Plus, if we didn't we'd just be sitting around watching some television show."

"But what are we going to do once we see it? If you or I were to activate it..."

"I know, I know. I would never dream of such a thing. I just want to see it. Don't you? Anything this strong just has to be seen."

"It's only a lance!" Jonathan pleaded. "I have a really bad feeling about this. Really, really bad. Please, let's leave."

"No," Partle answered with finality. "If you don't wanna see it I'll just go alone." Jonathan sighed and walked alongside his friend. They'd known each other for millions of years. They'd both risen through the ranks of angels quickly, and surprising everyone. Only three-thousand years into existence Partle and Jonathan were both Seraphim's. They were the youngest of the strongest. The rank of Seraphim was the highest of the angel rankings. The only higher rank than Seraphim was Archangel.

Jonathan was amazed by the scenery. Huge columns and arches went miles in every direction. Down the columns were huge engravings of famous angels and prophets. Jonathan couldn't imagine the time it took to make the things. Each one was hundreds of feet high and many feet thick. Each one was so lifelike you could make out each individual hair on the carvings.

Partle stretched out his wings and took to the air. Apparently he was sick of walking and admiring the scenery. He flew into the air and flew down toward the other wall. Jonathan donned his wings and chased after. Lately, he'd been feeling the second banana to Partle. It was starting to annoy him. Partle had been doing some weird stuff lately, such as looking for the Holy Partisan. These things were boring Jonathan. but still, he couldn't help but wonder what was bringing on this turn of lifestyle in Partle. For millions of years after being exiled they'd existed quietly, talking and living with humans, making fun of them mostly, but now Partle was restless. It scared Jonathan a bit.

They approached the other end of the hall. They stopped a hundred feet away and marveled at the closest thing to Heaven they'd seen in a very, very long time. Both of the angels had no doubt they were truly in a place of God. Nothing that beautiful could be manmade. The entire wall was an ornate sculpture of the Ethereal Planes in Heaven. In the distance the Divine Palace was in view. The angels' jaws were agape as they stared at the bloody mess that the monumental sculpture depicted. The entire thing was painted in vibrant colors that nearly made the wall alive.

"God almighty," Partle gasped.

"It's The War," Jonathan analyzed. "This whole wall, miles and miles long is of the Great War."

"No, not the Great War itself, but the last battle." Jonathan gave him a quizzical look.

"How do you know?"

"Because here I am." Partle floated up and pointed to a picture of himself in shining armor running a spear through another angel. "This was the Battle of Eternity. Remember?" Jonathan only shook his head. he remembered well. It was the last stand of Lucifer's army. After that fateful battle Lucifer and his army was completely annihilated. The good angels were then sent to build Hell, a holding place for the Fallen.

Jonathan floated several hundred feet to the left and saw himself fending off two angels attacking him. His eyes watered with the sight. Whoever sculpted this thing had gotten the one moment in the entire war he remembered the most. The angels were Gaston and Bation. He wiped the tears from his face as he thought of the good times he'd had with those two. They had been good friends of his; he'd specifically not killed them as long as possible simply because of his love for them. Now, they were paying for their sins.

Partle floated along the wall and looked for the Partisan, or something leading to the Partisan. After a few minutes of searching he finally found a place on the wall that had nothing to do with the battle. Three cherubs had their outstretched arms pointing toward a box on the wall. Partle floated down to it and analyzed it.

"Hey Jonathan! I found it!" He screamed.

"You did!" Jonathan screamed back. "I'll be right there." He wiped the tears from his eyes and flew as fast as he could to where Partle was oozing over a painted box on the wall. "This box? How do you know it's it?"

"Watch," Partle said. He touched the lock on the box. The box disappeared. Vanished into thin air. Behind where the box stood was a box of flames. "Whoa!" He gasped. He jumped back, shocked at what he'd seen. Flames flicked out of the thing randomly. Suddenly the cherubs disappeared and a long horizontal strip of the wall vanished. Flames were all in that strip of wall. "I'm betting that's it."

"Yup," Jonathan concurred. "It probably is." He looked at it for a moment and realized he couldn't see the Partisan, but the sheer power of it was radiating out of the fire. "Okay let's go now." He turned around and made nudging motions with his hands to help Partle get the point he wanted to leave.

"No, I want to see it," he said hungrily.

"No, c'mon, let's go. It's quite apparent that they don't want you touching the stupid thing so LET"S GO!" He bellowed.

"Excuuuuuuuuuuse me," Partle mocked. "I didn't come ALL the way up this damned mountain in the middle of no where on a God forsaken planet just to turn around and go back down."

"I don't want to stay here any longer." Jonathan folded his arms and scowled at his friend.

"Well, I'm seeing this lance." He ran to the flames and stuck his hand in. "YOWCH!" He squealed in agony. His hand was lit on fire. He fell on it and put out the flame with his body. "Holy moly, I've never felt that kind of pain before. That was hot!"

"What the hell do you expect it to be, it's FIRE, stupid." Partle gave a fake laugh and the finger.

"Well, you can just blow it out your ass."

"Hey! Watch your mouth. We're in a holy temple!"

"Boo hoo." Partle turned and looked at the flames. "How can I get it out?" He asked himself.

"You can't, so let's go!"

"Silence! Don't make me hurt you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." Partle gave him a menacing look and silenced Jonathan. Jonathan pursed his lips together in frustration and in contempt.

"I have an idea. Maybe if I activate its power for only a minute I can pull it out and then put it back."

"Are you crazy?" Jonathan raved. "You know what happens when angels who aren't in the presence of God get too much power. It clouds their judgment."

"I'm gonna put it back." He said.

"No. That's final. I won't allow you to do this. I won't allow you to activate something that is much to powerful for either of us to handle. You know when someone, angel or not, gets too much power they lose judgment. It's happened before and I'm not gonna let it happen again. You're about to make a second very grave mistake.

"When you're in the Heaven God's presence helps to guide you; here you're just outta luck. You know that God is mostly absent from the realm of the living. He lets them live their own lives. They were given free will to do so. That means if they get too much power they'll"

"I know already! Sheesh, you're really starting to annoy me." He started taking threatening strides at Jonathan. "You've been annoying me for quite some time now, actually. I'm starting to hate you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and I am sick of listening to your bull shit about God this and God that. You know what?"

"What?"

"Fuck you!" Partle clenched his fist slugged his lifetime friend in the gut as hard as his angelic muscles would allow. Then, while Jonathan was bent over, he brought his elbow down on his friend's back as hard as he could. Jonathan fell to the ground heaving in pain. "Take this!" Partle got a small running start and kicked Jonathan in the gut as hard as he could sending him sliding into a column. Partle raced back to the fire. "I, Partle, Seraphim of God, activate the Holy Partisan!" The flames immediately died and a bright blue color blasted out of the hole.

"No," Jonathan squeaked.

"Ha, ha, ha!" Partle giggled. His mad laughter scared Jonathan.

"Friend, what has happened to you?" He barely managed to whisper. He struggled to his knees and raised his head just in time to see Partle reach into the light and pull out a golden lance with a silver, triangular point. The handle on it had grips for your hands; the grips were made of ivory. The lance was beautiful, glowing, and ten feet long exactly. It had the power to slice mountains in half.

"Jonathan!" He bellowed. His voice was deeper, fuller. "Come to me, Jonathan."

"Oh lord, please help me now." He prayed. He managed to climb to his feet and stagger to his friend. "Yes?"

"Oh Jonathan, if you only knew the power. The exquisite power!" He laughed hysterically for minutes. he heard thunder clapping in the room as he laughed louder. The ground shook with his giddiness.

"Are you going to put it back now?"

"Are you mad? This Partisan has done something unbelievable."

"Are you okay? You seem," he paused to choose his words inoffensively, "off."

"Oh, I'm not 'off', I'm finally better. My eyes, their truly open for the first time in my entire existence. I finally feel the what the measly humans have felt for millennia."

"What?"

"FREE WILL!" He screamed. His voice was thunderous and nearly knocked Jonathan off his feet.

"You're mad." Jonathan observed.

"I can see where we went wrong. This is wrong. This planet, these humans, these civilizations, this universe, this EXISTENCE is all wrong! I can see that it is all wrong. Every bit of it is completely wrong."

"What are you talking about?"

"SIN! Sin is wrong! I can feel it at every corner of this universe. Don't tell me you can't because I know you feel it just as well as I! Now, tell me, why is there sin?"

"Free will. This existence is allowed to exist as they want." Jonathan said matter-of-factly.

"No kidding. This disease, free will, has caused wars, plagues, the ends of some civilizations all because of one little rule that the big man put into effect. Now, if free will causes sin, who causes free will?"

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on there. Just slow down before you say something you don't want to say. Something that can't be unsaid and you'll regret forever."

"TELL ME WHO CREATED FREE WILL!" He screamed so hard that he levitated a bit. Lightning crackled around him.

"God."

"Yes, that's right. God. Therefore, if God created free will, he also created sin. And therefore I further declare that God is the source of all sins."

"You're mad. You silly bastard! He created you! He made you! He is the most loving--"

"Stop with the bible-loving BS. I am stick of people defending him. You are wrong. This deity has let plague, war, death, famine and horrible things go on for centuries and hasn't done a thing about it. He has used free will as a way of being lazy and sitting on his ass for eons! This isn't the type of thing a supreme being should have on his essay. If our existence had any balls whatsoever we would've him out on his all powerful ass long ago! This is the work of an unfit God."

Jonathan took this all in and fear crept through his body like a serpent coiling on his leg. "My God. You're sounding quite familiar."

"What?"

"I've heard these things said before."

"Don't you say it," Partle warned.

"You're sounding like the Morning Star!" Jonathan cried. "You're sounding like Lucifer himself. Lucifer's rant and yours slammed God for not choosing you favorite. You jealous bastard," Jonathan screamed with tears coming down his face. "You've crossed the line. You've fallen."

"I haven't fallen," Partle said, eerily quiet. "Jonathan," he said with malice, "I have ascended. You're looking at your future God."

"No, NO!" He screamed. "I won't do it. I won't be a part of this. Look at the wall!" Jonathan pointed at the wall. "LOOK AT IT! You know! You know what happens when someone goes after the throne. I won't be a part of it. No part at all. In fact, I cannot let this go on any further and still have a clear conscience about it. Partle, Partisan or no Partisan, I have to stop you."

"Just try," Partle challenged. Before Jonathan could even blink a lightning streak hit him in the chest and sent him flying into the same column. His head smacked the stone and sent the world fuzzy. Partle walked up to him and put the Partisan to his throat. "Only your lifelong friendship to me keeps you alive now. I will spare this once, infidel, but be warned: I will kill you if you attempt to stop me." Partle pulled the lance back and gave him a look that sliced into Jonathan's sense of being. He then black out.

.

Go To Chapter 4

Return To CT Fanfic