Let me die, please God, I’d rather die -
Jacob cannot turn away as the Succubus increases her chokehold, a thousand icy pinpricks puncturing the fabric of his existence as he somersaults within her sulfuric lather, every cell in his body screaming for mercy.
And then he glimpses a shadowy figure appear from the hazy periphery, moving toward them through shimmering phase disturbances.
Father…
Michael Gabriel grabs the Abomination by her throat and flings the startled Succubus into the peripheral mist and out of the nexus.
Jacob crawls on his hands and knees into his father’s warming embrace.
The two exhausted Gabriels hold each other, feeding off each other’s energy as they stare into the haze, waiting for the she-devil to return.
Father… we have to leave the nexus.
I can’t son. Not until the Nephilim have been freed.
A baritone growl.
Two pinpoints of scarlet mark her eyes, and the demon reappears… smiling her wicked vertical slit of a smile. One Hunahpu… finally lured out of your cage. You and your son’s aura will allow Devlin to wedge open the Gates of Hell.
She disappears into the haze.
Jacob feels ill, as if he has just stepped off a precipice. Dad, what does she mean? Is Lucifer really coming?
Mick whispers into his son’s consciousness, There is no Lucifer, Jacob, there is no Hell.
But evil The Devil is man’s creation, son, not God’s. Evil is the human residue of free choice. Hell is a self-imposed prison in the spiritual realm. This purgatory… none of it is real, it was all created from the demented subconscious of Devlin Mabus and the tortured minds of the Nephilim. My own anger, my own self-loathing imprisoned my tainted soul within its walls… until I felt your love. But I chose to stay… to help the Nephilim. To allow them to bathe in my warmth.
Then I must kill Devlin and Lilith.
You can’t, Jacob. They’re already dead.
What?
I killed them long ago, back in 2012, when they attempted to use Tezcatilpoca to return to Earth. I entered the serpent’s nexus to greet them. They tried to trick me, but I saw through their ruse and killed both of them.
But -
God will not allow evil to enter His spiritual domain. So angry at God was Lilith that she refused to accept His terms. She and Devlin created their own netherworld, entrapping the confused, guilt-ridden souls of the Nephilim within its borders. Here, they can coerce and torture them, keeping them clear of God’s embracing light while Devlin, using his pure Hunahpu lineage, feeds off their energy to forge his own version of Hell.
Why are the Nephilim so filled with guilt?
Because they survived Earth’s holocaust when so many others died. It is my aura that soothes their souls, just as you soothed mine. Yours was a beacon of love… and love is God’s light. Lilith dampens this light, feeding it to the Nephilim in small morsels, crediting its energy to Lucifer so as to keep them under control.
Then the Nephilim… they’re dead as well?
Yes. They perished long ago, when they attempted to cross over into the spiritual realm.
Do they even know they’re dead?
No. Neither does Devlin or his mother. They’re absolutely convinced they’re on a mission to resurrect Lucifer. Now, only the truth shall set them free.
But why… why are Devlin and Lilith so convinced they can open up the Gates of Hell?
Devlin can feel an energy surge coming, but it is not our combined presence in this purgatory that he feels.
The supernova?
Yes. Devlin’s Hunahpu abilities allow him to tap into these forces. Even now, his mind is channeling energy, his subconscious giving life to a demon sentry.
Father, what happens when Sirius goes supernova?
Energy levels will spike, and Devlin’s consciousness will give birth to Lucifer-at least his concept of Lucifer-created from the fabric of his own wounded mind.
Then this whole thing… it could actually become a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Not could, Jacob. Remember, humanity is stuck in a time loop. The deed has already happened before.
Are you saying man’s concept of the Devil came from the future?
Looping back into the past… a frightening paradox. With each journey through the wormhole, the equation becomes more muddied, and mankind drifts farther from God.
Then the past… it will repeat itself again?
The moment the Guardian reenter the wormhole, as they are preparing to do even now. Once more, man’s future will deliver the Devil into man’s Garden of Eden.
Dad… this is all my fault… my selfishness pushed Lilith away, my moment of weakness gave Devlin life.
It’s not your fault. Like me, you were simply a victim of circumstance.
So was Lilith. So were Manny and Evelyn, and the billions who perished back on old Earth. Dad, I have to stop this insanity… I have to end this once and for all!
How?
By defeating Devlin. By saving the Nephilim.
You can’t defeat Devlin alone, and I cannot leave the nexus to help you.
There’s another way I can succeed, but I need your help. Can you distract Lilith… keep her away from me?
I’ll try. But the sentry, it would take both of us to I’ll handle the sentry, you worry about Lilith.
Devlin stands before the lake’s edge, his batlike wings twitching at his sides.
The silvery waters churn, then swirl, pulling in a powerful counterclockwise vortex. Within seconds, the once-placid liquid has become a raging whirlpool, its eye draining, inhaling the contents of the maelstrom to reveal – a massive orifice… the third mouth of the serpent.
‘It’s the portal, the portal into Hell!’
Devlin’s subconscious reaches across dimensions of time and space, tapping into the chaotic energy of the red supergiant, unleashing a monstrous ball of crimson flame, which belches upward from the serpent’s hyperextended jaws. The expulsion of energy causes the shoreline to rumble beneath Devlin’s feet, sending the frightened Nephilim bowing in fear.
The lining of the serpent’s throat radiates an emerald green hue as it slowly morphs into a rotating funnel of energy.
Father and son link minds, summoning Lilith, whose hideous presence reappears along the periphery of the mist.
I love you, Father.
I love you too, son. Now go.
Jacob’s mind slips out of the nexus.
Michael Gabriel turns to face his eternal enemy. It’s you and me now, cousin. My son has given me his strength… and I promise you that none of those who were born in the light, begotten in the light, will ever be yours!
Jacob opens his eyes.
He is lying on his back, the binding roots of the calabash tree having loosened around his neck and limbs. He pulls himself out from under the thick bonds and sits up, transfixed by the unearthly emerald light pouring out of the fifth-dimensional pit.
The porous ground oozes as Devlin’s followers dance and jump along the shoreline.
Rising out of the orifice, dripping globs of silvery ooze, is Devlin’s demonic biped, the one he has fought countless times in the holograph suite, the one who has tortured him in his childhood dreams. Powerful limbs, heavily segmented and smooth, propel its angular, heavily muscled body across the lake’s receding waters.
Devlin greets the sentry his own subconscious mind has created, directing it to the calabash tree. ‘Slay them. Slay them all!’
The silicon demon trudges up onshore, its powerful segmented arms lashing out, its scalpel-like fingers slicing limbs and torsos of the scattering Nephilim.
The ash-coated beings cry out, blue-tinted plasma gushing from their wounds. Panicking, the throng pushes one another aside, desperate to move out of harm’s way.
‘Jake!’ Dominique rushes over, handing him the sword. ‘Are you all right? Where’s Mick?’
‘Guarding the nexus.’ For the first time in fourteen years, he embraces her tightly. ‘I love you, Mom. I’m so sorry. All these years