Lucas nodded. “It’s up to you, lad. To be honest I’m only here tonight because I’m duty-bound. The apocalypse and all that, you know? It’s kind of traditional.”
“That can’t be the reason.”
Lucas laughed his charming Irishman laugh. “No, you’re right. The truth of it is that Michael summoned me here to see the destruction of mankind. I guess they think I had a hand in bringing down the ceiling – in leading men astray and all that.”
Harry shrugged. “Well, didn’t you?”
Lucas swigged his beer down to the bottom third. “Well, yes and no. When I first fell from Heaven I hated you all – God’s most prized creation – and I sought to corrupt you all. I wanted to spoil God’s work and his image that lived in all of you, but you know what I found out?”
“What?” said Harry.
“I realised that I was wasting my time. Men were doing a fine thing of messing stuff up on their own. I had a hand, here and there, sure, but Hitler, Bin Laden, Bundy, the nuclear-fuckin-bomb? All that was on you lot. The worst, most corrupt men that ever lived are mostly people I’ve never met.”
“Then why does Heaven blame you? Why have they brought you here to watch us die?”
“Because I fell in love with humanity. At first I rebelled against God because I wanted to live by my own rules and I sought about destroying you all, but after a while I realised that man wasn’t in God’s image, he was in mine. Men have spent hundreds of years fighting for their freedom just the same way as I and some of my brothers did against Heaven. Few hundred years ago, I stopped trying to destroy you and started living amongst you. I buried my anger with God and stopped being the bogeyman you write about in your religious texts. I’m no different to you all and just as sad to see that the party’s all over. The only reason I’m forced to witness it all end is for them to make a point.”
“What point?” Harry asked.
“To prove that anyone that goes against God will not be tolerated. Me included.”
Harry laughed.
“Why do you laugh, Harry Boy?”
“Nothing. I guess I just find it amusing to find out that the Devil is benevolent and God is wrathful.”
Lucas laughed too. “Well, I hope it teaches you to not always believe what the media says. Especially the ancient Aramaic right-wing media. The bible got me all wrong, I tell you.”
The two of them shared a laugh and finished their beers. After a few moments, Harry put his empty bottle on the bar.”
“Time to go, I guess, but before I do, can I ask you a question?”
Lucas shrugged. “You’ve done little else for the past few hours. Why stop now?”
Harry took that to mean, yes. “You mentioned the levels of Hell, earlier?”
“Aye.”
“Which is the worst?”
Lucas didn’t seem comfortable by the question. “Well…it’s all relative, really. The punishment tends to fit the crime.”
“I know that!” Harry was becoming impatient. He could feel his body shutting down under the constant attack of the cold and he had to finish this before he gave in to hyperthermia. “But surely some layers are worse than others. Where do the very worst go, like Judas Iscariot and Hitler? People like that?”
Lucas thought before he answered. “Well, if you listen to Dante Alighieri then there are just seven levels, but in truth the regions of Hell are never ending. Time and space there is eternal, but there is a deepest level reserved only for pure evil. Light does not exist there and neither does hope of any kind. It is suffering and despair without beginning and without end; a place where Evil reigns and flays the skin of any soul that dare venture there. It is a Hell beyond human understanding and no human, not even the vilest, has ever committed sin harsh enough to be sent there. It is deserving of no man. It was created to hold me.”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “A Hell so bad that it was made to torture the Devil himself?”
Lucas nodded and seemed upset by the thought of it. “Aye, they call it…The Abyss.”
Harry took that information in and held onto it. The Abyss. The darkest, most desperate level of hell that is fit only for the Devil himself. A place of torture beyond anything a man could imagine. Okay, got it.
“Lucas,” Harry said. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you and I sincerely hope that the Abyss never claims you. Sounds strange to say, but I think you might actually be one of the good guys.”
Lucas laughed. “I have many names, but that’s a first.”
Harry shook the Devil’s hand and walked away, leaving his candle on the bar and entering the darkness.
Chapter Thirty-SIX
Harry opened The Trumpet’s door and looked out over the landscape. The blizzard had finally begun to die down, its job almost completed. The world had been rendered featureless. Everywhere Harry looked was pure-white and buried beneath giant snow banks. Across the street, the tops of buildings were just about visible, but their doorways were covered up past their tops. Harry had a feeling that Lucas had something to do with The Trumpet not yet being buried.
At the bottom of the hill stood the Angels, lined up and stretching on forever like the Great Wall of China.
Although that’s probably buried along with everything else. The world’s greatest achievements reduced to featureless, white, nothingness.
Harry hailed them. “I’m coming over. I give up, okay?”
The blond Angel in the centre – Michael? – nodded. Then he lifted his arms out in front of him and shot fire.
“Hey!” Harry protested. “I said I’m coming!”
Harry thought he was about to get fried but soon realised that wasn’t Michael’s intention. In front of him the steps had been cleared of snow, melted by a rapidly disappearing river of fire. “Oh, er…cheers.”
Harry took the newly uncovered steps slowly, in no rush to test out the theory he had in his head.
I guess time doesn’t mean much when you’re eternal
The Angels stood patiently, seemingly happy to wait for him. Michael had taken a step forward, exiting the line. When Harry reached the bottom of the steps, he saw that Michael was smiling reassuringly, like a Dentist about to perform a root canal.
“Welcome, Sinner,” said Michael in a far softer voice than he had in the previous instances when Harry had heard him speak. His presence was no less awesome.
“Can we just use ‘Harry’ for now, yes?”
“As you wish, Harry Jobson.”
“Just ‘Harry’ is fine…you know, don’t worry about it.”
Michael bowed his head at Harry as if there was a great pity that he was forced to acknowledge. It made Harry angry, but he couldn’t let it distract him.
“Are you ready? It is time.” said the Angel.
“I just have a couple of questions to ask first.”
Michael looked at him and something that Harry thought was anger streamed through the archangel’s eyes.
Obviously, The Angel of Death doesn’t appreciate being delayed by a mere mortal. I bet he thinks it’s ‘impertinent’.
Harry wanted to laugh in the Angel’s face.
Michael seemed to calm himself as he spoke again. “Ask your questions quickly, Sinner.”
There’s that word again.
Harry nodded, also wanting to hurry things along, before he lost his nerve. “After what I did; after I committed the….final sin, or whatever, it condemned everyone to Hell, right?”
Michael nodded.
“Do you think that’s fair?”
Michael was visibly annoyed. “It is His will.”
Harry nodded. “Right, right, didn’t think appealing to your better nature would work, so I guess I should skip straight to plan B.”
“Plan B?” Michael repeated, confused.
“Yeah, I want to make a deal.”
Michael exploded, but managed to do so without moving an inch. He seemed to oppress the air around him. “YOU DO NOT MAKE DEALS WITH AN AGENT OF HEAVEN. YOUR WILL IS INCONSEQUENTIAL TO HIS DECISIONS. YOU WILL OBEY, SINNER.”