Heaven versus Hell

The name is Virmiel of the Heavenly Host. I am an Archangel of Heaven. Though some of you people might find that hard to believe, Angels are real. Unfortunately, so are our counterparts, those beings you call Demons. And they mean to do you harm. While moving about on the planet Earth, I look like a human being. A six-foot-two, busty, thick-bodied and big-bottomed, dark-skinned black woman in her mid-twenties, to be exact. I am currently wearing a black leather jacket over a red T-shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers. I look this way because that's exactly what I look like. Angels look like ordinary men and women of every race, culture and body type. It's how our Father Yahweh, the Great Lord in the Kingdom of Heaven, made us.

Presently, I'm walking through the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Walking beside me is the Archangel Raphael. He's a six-foot-six, broad-shouldered and muscular young man with light brown skin, pale green eyes and long black hair braided into neat cornrows. He looks really good wearing a black leather jacket, blue T-shirt, black jeans and sneakers. We've been friends for a long time. Ever since we were stationed together to watch over the souls of those men and women who died fighting for the Independence of the United States of America during those infamous and quite bloody battles of Beacon Hill in the late 1700s. We walked among humanity then, as we do now.

I wish we were simply strolling through the city on a mission of goodwill. The truth of the matter is that Prince Lobos, one of the Fallen Archangel Lucifer Morningstar's raging sons, is walking through the city of Boston. And he walks unscathed. You see, he's found a loophole. Angels are supposed to stay in Heaven. And Demons are supposed to stay in Hell. Neither side exactly follows these rules. However, powerful Angels keep watch over the Gate of Hell, to prevent the Dark Lords from crossing over into the Abode of Man. It seems that somehow, Prince Lobos has escaped from Hell. And he's managed to do so while Lucifer Morningstar, the Enemy of God, is visiting the Void outside of Creation. Prince Lobos is a rebel. What he does is unprecedented. Not even Lucifer would dare do what he's done.

Prince Lobos wishes to establish himself as the Prince of this World. And he inhabits the body of a tall, good-looking and charming black man who happens to be a close aide to the African-American gentleman who is the current Governor of Massachusetts. He wields a fantastic amount of power, and he wants more. Lobos is something else. You see, he alone among the Lords of Hell isn't a high-ranking Fallen Angel. Lobos is the offspring of the most powerful Fallen Angel of all, the Archangel Lucifer Morningstar, sired when the Dark Lord had a dalliance with a mortal woman during one of his countless trips to the human world. Thus, Lobos is half human and half Angel. What we call a Nephilim. Since most if not all of the Fallen Angels have been rounded up by Heaven's Armies and sent to Hell, there aren't any Nephilim on the planet Earth.

The human world hasn't seen Lobos kind in centuries, if not millennia. And there aren't any forces in this world which can stop him. In ancient times, men and women had knowledge of magic. Many among the mortals knew how to use supernatural forces in the battle against the forces of evil. In this modern age, most people don't believe there is more to the world than what they see. They think God doesn't exist and that Angels and Demons are nothing but fairy tales. When the Lords of Hell visit the planet Earth, they tend to temporarily turn it into their playground. Basically, besides Heaven's Angels, there isn't any other power to oppose them. Lobos knew this and he's counting on it. Since most humans have no knowledge of the supernatural, they won't know him or his cohorts for what they are as they take over the world.

The Archangel Raphael and I are here to stop Prince Lobos once and for all. If we fail, the Viceroy of Heaven, the Voice of God Himself, also known as the Archangel Metatron, will send the Mazzikim, the Angels of Destruction. You don't want to know what they can do. They can destroy an entire country in the blink of an eye. In ancient times, when the Lord wanted to punish someone, He would send the Mazzikim. When the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, it was the Mazzikim. When the firstborn sons of the Kingdom of Egypt were slaughtered, it was the Mazzikim. And when, during the War of the Rebel Angels, the Lord decreed that Lucifer Morningstar and his angelic associates had gone rampant for too long, the Mazzikim were sent to take them out. Basically, Raphael and I are the equivalent of your State Police. The Mazzikim are the Black Ops guys of the CIA. Got it? Cool. You don't want them in your backyard.

Pray that my fellow Archangel Raphael and I succeed in our holy mission. Already, the city of Boston is starting to show the influence of Lobos. A prominent district attorney opened fire in Suffolk County Superior Court,, shooting a defendant and his lawyers before the bailiff was forced to kill her in self-defense. A bank teller killed twenty-five of her co-workers with poison gas before taking off with sixty thousand dollars. She led the state police on a wild car chase from Boston to Plymouth before she went out in a hail of gunfire. A wealthy businessman shot a college student because the young man refused to give up the contents of his wallet on Commonwealth Avenue.. A crowd of thirty people stomped to death two MBTA policewomen who tried to stop a growing riot at South Station. A cafeteria worker at a prestigious private school in Milton poisoned one hundred and seventy people during lunch hour before shooting herself. Did I mention all these things happened in twenty-four hours? Yeah.

Lobos is quite lethal. And his servants are quite powerful too. He resurrected Discord, the ancient Greek Goddess whose name is her mission. Discord, housed in the body of a six-foot-tall, blonde-haired and green-eyed supermodel, is Lobos most powerful ally in his battle against the forces of Light. She's wreaking havoc in the world right now, turning man against woman, black against white, father against mother, son and daughter against parent, human against inhuman. And her influence isn't limited to humans either. In Boston Common, thirty squirrels tore to pieces a group of young women who were feeding them nuts. A flock of ducks killed two farmers in a pond in Plymouth.

And as if the vicious Goddess Discord wasn't enough, Prince Lobos has also resurrected Ares, the Greek God of War and Loki, the Norse God of Chaos and Trickery. With such a trio of immortal allies, the Prince of Demons is nigh unstoppable. For the first time in eons, I am genuinely worried that I might not be enough to stop the forces of evil. I have faced Pagan deities before. Eons ago, during the War of Gods and Primordials, Yahweh and His Angels wiped out the Pagan deities. Those among them who survived took refuse in Hell. The Grecian deities Ares and Discord, along with Norseman Trickster Loki were among the slain gods. It would take an incredible amount of power to resurrect a slain god or goddess. Resurrecting three of them requires a type of power wielded by only two beings in the cosmos, Yahweh, the Lord in Heaven and his estranged son Lucifer Morningstar, Lord of Hell. How in hell did Lobos get his filthy hands on such power?

I guess we'll find out soon enough. Raphael and I made our way to the Massachusetts State House. The center of the maelstrom. Where all the chaos originated. And it wasn't just Massachusetts that was affected. Men and women were tearing each other to pieces all over the country. It's as if madness infected all of them. And animals too. In the oceans, the rivers, the skies and on land, all forms of life waged war on one another. Survival wasn't the endgame. Destruction was. If Lobos could get the humans and animals beloved of God to slaughter one another, he could claim the planet Earth as his own. Make it yet another Hell.

As Raphael and I arrived at the State House, we found it filled with chaos. Men and women of all races and backgrounds were shooting, stabbing and running over each other. And the police and firefighters were getting into it right alongside the ordinary citizens. The National Guard had been summoned, and they were shooting at everything that moved, in self-defense. I sighed in sadness. These people and animals were my Father's creations. How dare Lobos pervert them this way? Raphael gently touched my shoulder, and told me that we would stop Lobos soon enough. I nodded. And kept walking.

Suddenly, I was aware of a presence. Raphael sensed it too. At the center of the State House stood Lobos. Housed in the body of a tall, good-looking young black man in a business suit. Beside him stood several people. A tall, red-haired and green-eyed young Caucasian man with a mischievous gleam in his gaze. Loki, the Norse God of Chaos and Trickery. A tall, muscular man with black hair, dark bronze skin and blazing emerald eyes. Ares, the Greek God of War. And finally a tall, beautiful blonde who looked like a supermodel. Discord, the Greek Goddess whose name was her mission. Lobos smiled at us, and bade us welcome to his kingdom.

Raphael and I readied ourselves for the struggle to come. I spoke to Lobos, demanding that he and his cohorts return to Hell. Lobos chuckled, as did his friends. Ares glared at me and said he didn't take others from the likes of me. Discord winked at Raphael, and he shifted uncomfortably. Loki simply smirked, and said he was looking forward to messing us up. Lobos stared at us confidently, and said the world was his. Soon, the humans would be extinct. As would the animals. When I asked him how he did it, he claimed that he found a way to destroy the humans using a combination of magic and science.

Discord proudly explained her part in the scheme. The Greek Goddess told us how she transferred part of her divine essence into an airborne, highly mutagenic virus which rendered all organic life-forms hyper-violent and vicious. Men and women, along with animals and some varieties of plants were affected. Basically, everything that lives was tearing to pieces anything that came near it. Astonished, I stared at her. Beside me, Raphael seemed stunned as well. Lobos smiled, and rubbed his hands together. Then he ordered his allies to destroy us. Laughing, the trio of newly resurrected Pagan divinities came at us.

Loki and Ares moved first. In Loki's hands, lightning crackled. The Norse Trickster hurled a lightning bolt at me. Summoning a Blade of Angel Fire, I knocked it aside. Laughing, Loki congratulated me on having some moves. Then he hurled a massive fireball at me. Meanwhile, war-like Greek god Ares squared off with Raphael. Brandishing a massive Spear and Shield seemingly made of energy, Ares clashed with Raphael. The Archangel blocked Ares's Spear with his Blade of Fire. Standing beside Lobos, Discord simply watched the fight.

The Norse God Loki was quite lethal, and a great fighter in spite of being considered a prankster in Pagan circles. His fireballs struck me, and in spite of being invulnerable, I felt their heat and they weren't pleasant. Circling him, I tried to cut him with my Blade. He blocked them by erecting a force field of blue energy around himself, and kept shooting energy blasts at me. Unfurling my wings, I launched myself at him. I got through his force field, and we tumbled on the ground. Wrestling fiercely, each of us tried to gain the upper hand. Loki was quite the wrestler. He caught me and threw me away. I viciously stabbed him with my Blade. It didn't get through his equally invulnerable skin.

Nearby, the Archangel Raphael fiercely battled Ares, Greek God of War. They seemed evenly matched. The Archangel of the Lord and the Lord of War. Screaming in rage, Ares brandished a massive Hammer made of fire and brought it down on Raphael's head. At the last minute, Raphael dodged it and unfurled his wings, taking flight. Ares flew after him, summoning a massive magical chariot pulled by winged black pit bulls the size of horses. I couldn't watch the aerial battle, not with Loki trying to murder me. The Trickster changed his tactics. He fashioned a bow and a quiver of arrows out of green energy, and fired shot after shot at me. I blocked them with my Blade, and turned them against him. The arrows harmlessly bounced off him. We were too evenly matched. This battle could go on forever.

That's when Lobos clapped his hands, and in his booming voice, ordered everyone to stop. Ares and Loki returned to his side. Raphael and I regrouped. I looked at Raphael. Aside from his clothing being in tatters, he was alright. What did Lobos have planned? The Prince of Demons smiled at us. Loudly, he claimed the planet Earth as his dominion. Then, clapping his hands, he opened a vortex of energy and light seemingly out of nothingness. One by one, Lobos allies left through the vortex. Raphael moved to follow them, swearing it wasn't over. I stopped him. We had to let them go. We had reached a stalemate. And Lobos had way too much power. We couldn't stop him or his allies. I had doubts even the Mazzikim could. Raphael and I returned to Heaven. Wasn't much else we could do on Earth.

We asked for an audience with the Archangel Metatron, and the Voice of God spoke to us. He wasn't pleased with our actions. What else could we do? Lobos had powers we could only dream of, and allies the likes of which we hadn't battled in thousands of years. Metatron told us the truth, and we wished we didn't hear it. Lobos absorbed the powers of his immortal father, Lucifer Morningstar. He trapped the King of Hell in the Void outside of Creation, leaving him alive but powerless. He had planned his scheme for ages, and the Legions of Hell backed him up. They saw him as the Game Changer. The one who could turn the tide of the war between Good and Evil in Hell's favor. Lucifer was too old for this game, that's what they thought. Lobos was new blood. A bold new leader with new ideas. And look what he accomplished. He got rid of Lucifer, resurrected the ancient deities who once rivaled Yahweh Himself, and set about creating a New World Order. Could he be stopped?

Metatron said Heaven could not allow Lobos to become the King of the World. Thus, the angelic legions of the Mazzikim were being deployed. Raphael and I begged Metatron to give us another shot at Lobos and his friends. Metatron flat out said no, and chastised us for even asking. When I asked him what the Mazzikim would do, he said that they would wipe out any human being, any animal and any plant affected by Discord's poison. North America had already fallen to the Prince of Demons scheme. If the angels didn't act fast, the world would fall. Raphael and I stared at each other in disbelief. They were going to destroy North America? No way! We begged Metatron to reconsider. He said the decision was final. Raphael and I nodded, and left.

I couldn't believe it. Heaven was going to destroy countless life-forms to prevent the Prince of Demons from gaining a foothold on the planet Earth. This wasn't right. I struggled with this. I couldn't accept it. Raphael saw things my way. Thus, we made up our minds. We would defy both Heaven and Hell to save the planet Earth. The place we had come to love. The price of disobedience is steep for any Angel. We would never be forgiven for it. We would never be allowed to return to Heaven. As dire as that was, it was a price we were willing to pay. Thus, we returned to the planet Earth. One way or another, we were taking out Lobos and the Pagan gods allied with him. The world would be saved, no matter the cost.