 
Necessary Evil

By

L.J. Gethers
Copyright 2016 by Lorna J. Gethers

Cover design copyright 2016 by Raymond B. Johnson II

This edition published by Lorna J. Gethers

Distributed by Smashwords

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher

ISBN# 9781310275784
Dedication

This book is dedicated to Brooklyn Janine, Annissa Farrah Rose, Sarai Gabrielle and Evalyn Renay
Acknowledgements

Above all others, I would like to thank God for giving me the mental capacity, the thoughts and ideas, and the strength and endurance to write this book. I very much appreciate my son Raymond B. Johnson II for the beautiful cover that he designed especially for this book. No one could have done a better job and I am SO proud to display his work on my finished product! I just hope the inside is as good as the outside! I would also like to thank La Juan Clark and Sherene Lake for being my second and third pair of eyes and reading my very rough manuscript before it was even complete. Their feedback and insight gave me direction and gave my finished work continuity. They were also my editors of the finished product, so double thanks goes to them for all of the long hours they put in. I would also like to thank Pierre Vincent Esq. for his unbiased perusal of my work and his objective opinions. I had many supporters, of whom I will name just a few; I would like to thank my husband Jeffery Gethers, for the many talks and conversations he so enthusiastically participated in on this subject, not to mention his patience and good humor with my long hours of work. To my daughters Tiffany Rae' Johnson and Christal Joy Malone who have always believed in Mom and supported whatever I endeavored to do. To my MOM, Dr. Gladys L. Terrell, PhD. for raising me in a Christian environment and teaching me all that she knew, and last but certainly not least, to Pastor Edward L. Harden, who started me on a journey of discovery without even knowing it, who allowed God to use him in ways that he probably is not aware of and for patiently listening and being supportive of me. If I missed anyone significant, I am truly sorry and I will get to you in the next book, but please, don't let that stop you from enjoying this one! Happy reading!
Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

About the Author
**CHAPTER ONE**

"That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." Isaiah 45:6,7 (KJV)

The Consulate sat in the throne room conversing. On the throne sat flames, writhing fingers of fire in constant motion, brighter than the noon day sun, lending light to all the world of Aeriel. The fire was The King of Aeriel who could assume any shape and beside him stood General Victorel, while the Advisor swirled invisibly around and above them.

A complete, shimmering rainbow encircled the throne, and a laughing brook flowed out of it, making its way through the throne room and out of the castle in a sparkling waterfall that ran down to the Crystalline Sea. Tiny, bright sprites with miniscule wings that moved so fast they were invisible, played in the spray from the brook, for the sprites lived in the water of Aeriel.

Around them in the throne room, the sons of The King, which consisted of the very first creature that the Consulate had created of every world, watched in high anticipation to see what new creation would flow forth.

General Victorel sat down into the flames on the throne, merging with The King as the Advisor swirled around them to finally merge and become one with them. When they merged, the fire formed a great face with a mouth that spoke. "It is time." The words were uttered by The King, but his voice sounded like many voices speaking at once for it was the Consulate that spoke.

"Etherael." They said and at the same instant, there appeared in front of them one bright being made of fire and light. Its beauty was striking, lightning running through it in undulating waves, the majestic power of him sweeping through the room. The creature flexed his massive wings and they shot out from where they had been folded against his back to span fully twenty feet across on each side, sparks flying from them as he waved them gently in the air. The being bowed low before them. "My Lord, my will is to do your bidding."

The creature was beautiful and intelligent, powerful and wise and the Consulate smiled in anticipation of what was to come. They spoke again, "Etherael." And suddenly, there were billions of them, all different but the same, all shining and beautiful, of different colors and sizes, but all intelligent, perfect and wise. Their light was bright and music could be heard issuing from every one of them.

The sons of The King applauded the Consulate, marveling at the new creations that sparked and flashed like lightning. Each one was linked to the Consulate's thoughts and The King blinked his fiery eyes and in an instant, had named them all. Each one knew his name, his purpose and his position. They were organized into tiers with one general at the top, with many sergeants, colonels and lieutenants underneath. They flew in rank and were perfectly synchronized in their movements. The Consulate smiled as the Etherael army of The King was born.
**CHAPTER TWO**

"All is harmony and peace," said General Victorel, as he came to stand beside The King at the shimmering window high above the world, watching the newly created beings interact with each other, flying to and fro in the air.

"But it will not be for long," said The King.

"Yes, it is quite ingenious, this plan of ours. It will take _time_ for it to come to fruition, and there will be some difficulties along the way, but in the end, it will be quite glorious." The King and his general exchanged a knowing look about what was to come.

"This is quite the adventure!" The Advisor said, as he whirled gently around them, invisible, but present and quite audible. The Consulate gazed out on the bright world, busy with billions of beings that came and went.

Luminous leaves fluttered through the air, having detached themselves from their tree. They flew to the window, stopped in front of the Consulate and formed a shimmering head and face that spoke to them in a strange, rustling, dry tone. "Greetings Consulate," The floating leaf head bowed itself in respect. "We wish to visit the throne room with your permission."

General Victorel smiled and said, "You are always welcome Draya." He waved his hand towards the room and the head dissolved into a gentle whirlwind as the leaves moved through the window, past the Consulate and into the throne room.

The King turned from the window and floated back to his throne. His throne undulated smoothly with pleasure at the thought of receiving the person of The King, a melodious sound emanating from its recesses, rainbows of color rippling over its surface, its light mingling with the light of the rainbow that surrounded it. The General and The Advisor followed, and took their places around The King.

The throne room was situated at the very apex of the castle, if it could be called a castle, for everything on the world of Aeriel was living. There was not a dead thing that existed, in fact, there was no such thing as the word dead. The walls, doors, the stream that bubbled from the throne, broad avenues that ran along the ground then arced high in the air, and all vegetation, lived and breathed, moved and whispered; and it all happened by the power of the Consulate.

"General Lorel comes!" announced The Advisor, and the room rustled in excitement to see the brightest, most beautiful creature ever made by the Consulate. There was a flash of light and he stood before them, fire rippling through his powerful limbs and arcing out from his wingtips. The fire never ceased to move, constantly running along his body, moving even when he was standing still. He bowed low before the Consulate, then stood straight and tall.

"What news do you have General?" The Consulate already knew what was on General Lorel's mind, but the audible conversation was for the living things around them.

"My Lord, I know that the Etherael Host is linked to you, and also to each other, but I have devised a way to link the world of Aeriel to the rest of the universe and all of the worlds beyond using telepathic, visual and audio applications. I call it, VisionScope, and it will not only allow us to view events on other worlds that are far away, but they, in turn, will be able to view Aeriel, as well as any other planet in the universe.

I have been practicing it alone, but I would like your permission to teach this mental technique, not only to the host, but also to the Sons of The King, who in turn will teach it to their respective worlds. It will make the carrying out of orders instantaneous and more efficient, while also easing the traffic flow through the gateways to the worlds.

I have many ideas and plans, but I would like to start with this one, for beginning with this one will make the implementation of my other plans faster and smoother."

The King smiled, "Make it as you wish General Lorel. Always know that all of your ideas are welcome, in fact, I put you in charge of the entire Host of Etherael and you may organize them all as you see fit." General Lorel grinned widely and then saluted the Consulate, his fist striking his chest, making sparks fly.

The happiness that exuded from the Consulate engulfed him in wave upon wave of joy, their connection providing an uninterrupted flow that went both ways. "Thank you my Lord!" He took off the same way he had come, going so fast he disappeared, but the Consulate followed his mind out and beyond, staying with him even after he had vanished.

"He is perfection," said The King, "Our greatest work." Said The Advisor," "But our greatest is yet to come." General Victorel finished.
**CHAPTER THREE**

General Lorel moved with the speed of light to the cluster of Etherael that hovered in the air over the Crystalline Sea, while on its shore, visitors from the worlds of York, Klowde, Cali, Suri and Bath gathered. He watched as a wave of sparkling water reached up to Gabe, hovered in the air with him, then washed over him, engulfing him as they communed in conversation. It then returned to the sea, leaving Gabe as dry as before it came.

The aura of light that surrounded each of them was impenetrable to anything, a change of the winds, space, water, it didn't matter, the aura that surrounded them kept any change from taking place to their bodies. Yet change was the very thing that energized General Lorel.

"Gabe, Azazel!" General Lorel called; they looked up at his approach and waited for him to arrive.

"What are you so excited about this time?" asked Gabe, "You look as if you are going to explode with light at any moment now."

General Lorel came to a stop in the air beside them so suddenly that he sent showers of sparks into their midst. Then he linked his aura to theirs and flew away, so that they followed him away from the group, but Etherael Loudon followed after them, to hear what was going on.

When they had reached the Sparkling Waterfalls, General Lorel turned to them and said, "I am going to teach you an advanced form of telepathy."

"What do you mean?" Asked Gabe, "We are already telepathically linked to the Consulate and to each other."

"Yes, but what I am about to teach you will mentally link us to other worlds and will give us the capability of viewing what is happening in any part of the universe without ever leaving Aeriel! I call it VisionScope, for it will not just be thoughts, but audio and visual as well!" General Lorel said emphatically.

Loudon's eyebrows shot up and Azazel whistled low, "It sounds complex; my guess would be that you have already talked to the Consulate about it?"

"Of course, and they have given me their blessing. They have also given me permission to spread this technique throughout the entire universe, but I am going to teach it to you first, then you will help me to instruct the host."

"It sounds like a worthy endeavor!" Said Gabe enthusiastically.

"This should be very interesting." Said Azazel, reaching back and linking his aura to Loudon's, "Come on Loudon, since you are already here, you can help too." Loudon grinned, happy to be included in General Lorel's inner circle.

General Lorel taught them how to activate and open the mental pathways they would need for VisionScope, or VS. It didn't take very much practice or very long, for their minds were quick and agile, readily able to link their visual and auditory senses to distances that were millions of light years away. The little group practiced the technique and then using their new skills, General Lorel telepathically called to two sons of The King that were the leaders over all the sons, to come and learn it.

Lancing was a Griffin from the world of Suri and he, along with Puphf from the world of Klowde came together. Lancing was a huge, bird-like creature with soft white feathers all over his body. His powerful wings spanned fully fifteen feet across and he flapped them gracefully as they joined the small group of Etherael by the the Sparkling Waterfalls.

Puphf was an insubstantial creature made of water and air, and as he moved, he was constantly changing shape, size and color. He had assumed the shape of an arrow for the flight, but now, his billows of soft gray and white seemed to coalesce, as touching down to the ground, he instantly shifted into a blue form with two legs, two arms and a head.

"This technique will be quite useful for my people," Puphf said in a deep, booming voice that seemed to emanate from his entire being.

"Yes, you are quite the finder of new things General Lorel." Lancing agreed in a clipped, business-like tone, his sharp beak making a clicking noise as he talked. "We will still come to Aeriel of course, just because we love it so, but this will make things so much more convenient for the entire universe."

General Lorel was pleased and said, "I am glad that you approve Puphf, Lancing. As soon as you can, please teach VS to the remainder of the sons of The King so that we can spread it to the entire universe."

"Will you write a song about this General Lorel?" Asked Azazel?

"Yes, of course; it will have eight part harmony. Would you like to lead it Azazel? You have the perfect tone for what I have in mind."

Azazel lit up with pleasure. "It would be an honor General." He replied.

Among General Lorel's many talents, writing songs for the Etherael choir was the one he enjoyed the most. He could sing four part harmony by himself, but preferred to lead the host in more complicated arrangements. Whenever he finished a project, in celebration he would write a song about it and lead the choir in praise to the Consulate, the very air roiling with exaltations to them.
**CHAPTER FOUR**

As the eons rolled on, the Consulate created many more beings, all perfect in their own way. Each creation was an event that the universe gathered to watch, and with VS, it was even easier for everyone to see each and every detail with amazing clarity. General Lorel especially loved watching the Consulate merge with one other, and then speak their creations into existence with flair and precision. They always came up with such new ideas that all of their creations were vastly different from each other.

After the furor over VS had died down and everyone had become accustomed to using the ability, a new hunger arose in General Lorel's heart. After watching the Consulate create so many new kinds of life, he began to want to create something that would love and worship him in the same way the Consulate's creatures loved and worshipped them. The adoration that the Consulate bestowed upon them and that they freely returned, he began to crave. In praising the Consulate, he became the loudest, the most fervent.

As he knelt before them one day, a thought started to form in his mind. Why not actually try to create something that he could call his very own? He tried his hand first at creating changes in the existing creations around him and they turned out quite nicely. The changes were small such as changing the color of the flowers waving to him from the fields, or making the tiny, bright sprites that lived behind the waterfall and played in its spray bigger. The sprites loved him as did all of the creatures on Aerial. They clustered around him as he flew, or perched jauntily on his shoulders as he commanded the ethereal host. But General Lorel wanted to create something new, something that did not currently exist. He tried to speak things into existence, but nothing ever happened except for maybe the air would move with the power of his voice and cause thunder to roll; but that was just cause and effect.

One day, he approached Gabe and Azazel who were talking with Draya, Lancing and Puphf, and he asked for their help. "I am trying to create," he said, "you know, like the Consulate does, but I think that I may need more power. Merge with me, like they merge when they are about to create and let us see if we can make something happen."

They were all willing to try, so the Etherael tried merging first, but they never really became one being; their auras would only mingle together and change color as they tried to occupy the same space.

General Lorel addressed Puphf, "This should be much easier for you to do Puphf, insubstantial as you are, come and merge with me." Puphf agreed and proceeded to engulf General Lorel in billows of red until he had swallowed him up.

"Have the two of you truly merged?" asked Gabe a little awestruck by the thought.

"No," Puphf replied in his booming voice, "He is still not a part of me and I am still separate from him."

General Lorel poked his head out of Puphf's chest area and then stepped out completely while saying, "Well that did not work either!"

"Let me try to merge with Puphf!" Draya said. She had been standing by in a steady whirlwind pattern while she watched them, her leaves shimmering as they fluttered in a circle, but now she shifted into a large head that gently undulated in the breeze. "I think out of all of us, he and I have the best chance of making it happen because we are both used to changing our shapes." General Lorel nodded and stepped aside for Draya.

She floated up to Puphf and after a moment of hesitation, the giant leaf head melded into the red cloud. The three Etherael stood there looking at Puphf, who was now purple and glittered faintly in the light.

"This is not going to work." Lorel announced, "neither of you have any powers to speak of and power is needed to create." Draya disengaged herself from Puphf, the leaves streaming out of one of his cloud eyes in a straight line.

"Let us just go ask the Consulate how to do it." suggested Gabe. "They can tell us the exact science and mechanics behind merging and then we do not have to try to figure it out, we can get right down to the business of creating; they may even help us with that part too."

General Lorel really did not want to ask for the Consulate's help because this was something he had been hoping to figure out on his own so that he could surprise them with it, but seeing no other solution, he agreed.

"I am going back to Suri." Announced Lancing. He had been standing by watching as they experimented.

"I too shall take my leave." Said Puphf. "Let us know how this new endeavor of yours turns out General Lorel," Puphf called as he and Lancing waved and flew away.

Azazel, Draya and Gabe followed General Lorel to the throne room. The Etherael flew like lightning, while Draya followed at a more sedate pace. As usual, there was a gathering of creatures from around Aeriel and from other worlds.

"Ah, General Lorel, Azazel, Gabe and Draya, the awesome threesome plus one, what brings you to the throne room today?" General Victorel asked as they bowed low before them.

Straightening, General Lorel took point. "After watching the Consulate," and here he inclined his head towards them, "I have been inspired to try and create something myself. I tried on my own, but I realized that when _you_ create something, you merge, so I asked a few friends for their help. We tried merging with each other, but we could not get that part down, so we have come to the Consulate to ask for instructions on how to merge and how to create." General Lorel finished and waited expectantly for their reply.

"General Victorel smiled and said, "It is not inherent in the Etherael or in any of our creations to merge with each other. The closest you can come to merging is something that you have already done and that is telepathy. You are linked to each other mentally, but not physically. As for creation, that power is reserved for the Consulate alone."

General Lorel nodded for he had already suspected that this would be the answer he would be given, but he had another suggestion already in mind.

Gabe and Azazel accepted the Consulate's answer and cheerfully gave the Etherael salute in a shower of sparks, while Draya undulated softly in respect. General Lorel watched as the three of them flew from the throne room, the Etherael leaving a light trail behind them, but he remained by the throne to make his next suggestion. General Victorel nodded his head to Lorel, indicating that he should continue.

"I think I understand," Lorel began, "why you do not allow anyone else to create for we are not as wise as you are and we may start running all over the universe creating things very haphazardly and some of their creations might not be as ingenious as yours so, I _do_ understand."

Here, General Lorel paused for a moment before he continued. "But I believe I have an idea that will allow _me_ to create as I wish to."

"And what is this idea that you have General Lorel, we are listening." The King replied.

General Lorel inclined his head in thanks before taking a deep breath and saying, "That I be made a member of the Consulate, but only for a short time, a trial period if you will, to trade places with you, General Victorel; to be allowed to create and experience the love and adoration of my creations; but not just of my creations, but of all created beings."

General Lorel continued speaking directly to General Victorel. "Out of the members of the Consulate, General Victorel, you and I are the most alike; we even have the same title of General. We are both well loved by everyone in the universe, but it is I who lead them, it is I who comes up with all the ideas for new endeavors. It is I that have organized events, and constructed plans that has helped to make Aeriel what it is. Of the two of us, I am the more beautiful! If I were on the Consulate, just think of the things I could accomplish!"

General Lorel's eyes were alight with the passion of his convictions as he anticipated the response he usually received, but The King simply shook his head and said, "No one can replace General Victorel or any other member of the Consulate; it just cannot be done. I am sorry Lorel, but pursuing this idea of yours will not bring the results that you desire."

But General Lorel was not yet finished, "Alright, so I cannot replace General Victorel, but what if I apprentice for a while on the Consulate and you train me to do whatever it is that you do?"

General Lorel's voice trailed off at the end of his question, for while he had been speaking, General Victorel had begun shaking his head and now he spoke, "It is a noble thing that you aspire to be like us General Lorel, and you are in many respects. You are loving, holy and as you pointed out, very beautiful. You come from us, are extensions of ourselves, so you see, you are already what you aspire to be."

"But I am not, I cannot create as you can!" General Lorel cried. "What good is it to be what I am, but not what I wish?"

Gently, General Victorel reiterated what had already been said. "You were not created for that purpose, Lorel, as The King previously stated, pursuing this goal will not bring the results that you desire."

Here The King spoke up once again. "Trust that we know what is good and right for you General Lorel and comply with our will as if it were your own."

General Lorel could hardly believe that he was being told no without even the possibility of a reprieve. In times past, whenever he'd had a radical idea, the Consulate had at least told him to wait while they conferred with each other, but they had always come back with an affirmative. This time, there was no conference and no hesitation, he was just being told no. Feelings that he had never had before raced through him. He didn't know what to say, for the first time in his life, he was stymied, but his mind continued to race quickly and he rallied once again,

"But will you not even think about it, talk about it, have a conference or whatever it is that you three do? You are omnipotent after all, you have the power to do anything you want!"

General Victorel firmly shook his head, "No General Lorel, this is not something that we need to discuss or even think about; and though we DO have the power to do anything, as we said before, _this will not bring the results you desire_. The answer is no, I am sorry."

The king said this with such firmness, there was no question in Lorel's mind that any argument that he might put forth would not matter.

The feelings that General Lorel had begun to feel, he stifled as much as he could. He bowed his head, quickly gave the Etherael salute, then flew away so fast he appeared to vanish.

In the instant that he disappeared, General Victorel said, "And so it begins."

The Advisor said, "He does not understand,"

"I will go and explain it to him," General Victorel replied shortly.

After this pronouncement, General Victorel and the Advisor merged with the The King on the throne and for a time nothing could be heard except the crackling of the flames. Then, General Victorel stepped out from the fire and disappeared.
**CHAPTER FIVE**

General Lorel was feeling something that he had no name for because he'd never felt it before. It made him feel somewhat out of control, but in an extremely powerful way, like he could do anything; and why not? He was the great General Lorel, as great as General Victorel he was sure.

He felt his face twist up in an unfamiliar expression and he wondered what he looked like. He went to the Sea of Glass and looked into its smooth surface, and what he saw brought him up short. He knew that he was beautiful, the most beautiful of all the Etherael, but his face was twisted into an expression that was not beautiful, it was... he had no word for what it was. He watched himself as the feelings he had stifled in the throne room, he now allowed to come boiling to the surface and his face twisted more and more, his brow furrowing, his eyes narrowing, his teeth gnashing together, until the feeling came out in one mighty roar. The breath from his powerful lungs created huge waves that caused his image in the sea to disappear and all of Aeriel within hearing range stopped to look and listen.

General Lorel shot up into the air, not wanting anyone to see him like that, but not able to stop the feelings that he was having. Fire shot from his wings in all directions as he flew faster than he'd ever flown before. He flew into space, the bright, vast regions that held the gateways to other worlds.

Coming from Aeriel into the gateways, it looked like hundreds of thousands of beautiful, swirling wormholes stationed in perfect order from small ones to very large ones. General Lorel was on the broad avenue that led up to each gateway and from there he could go anywhere he wanted, but he stopped before he reached them, hovering on the avenue, not knowing his destination and trying to understand what was happening to him. Etherael and creatures from other worlds were streaming past him, into and out of the gateways, all in perfect flow and harmony, but General Lorel felt out of step with them, like he was somehow suddenly separate.

Suddenly, General Victorel appeared in front of him, hovering with him in the air. "Come," He said, and placing his hand on General Lorel's shoulder, they disappeared from that place and appeared in another.

This place was somewhere that General Lorel had never been. It was dark and even though he could see perfectly, there was nothing to see, absolutely nothing; it was not like anywhere he'd ever been before. There was no light and no other beings, but he could hear water crashing and the wind howling and he knew somehow that the atmosphere outside of his aura would not be the same as the atmosphere of Aeriel.

General Victorel waved his hand and there appeared a small sphere of light hovering in the air between them and a couple of things that looked like chairs, but were perfectly still. He looked at them closely and there was no movement at all, no change of color, and no whisperings or music issued from them. He stared at them very hard and then looked to General Victorel for an explanation, but none was forthcoming.

General Victorel pointed to the motionless chairs and said, "Please, sit. We have much to discuss." General Lorel glanced down at the chairs once more, and then sat down. The surface was hard and unyielding, it didn't conform to him the way he was used to, but that became a secondary matter as General Victorel began speaking.

"I know what you are feeling." He said with sympathy in his voice.

General Lorel leaned forward, his hands out in front of him. "If you know, then please explain it to me, because I do not understand anything at all!"

General Victorel continued, "The things that you are feeling are called disbelief, anger, pain, loneliness and fear." General Victorel had been gazing over Lorel's head, but at this point, he looked him in the eyes. "In the throne room, when The King said no to your proposition, the first thing you felt was disbelief. You could not believe that he actually said no to you, after all, for you, this is a first. You are have always been in line with the will of the Consulate, so this idea that you have, to become a creator in your own right, to replace me on the Consulate, or simply to become a member of the Consulate, no one has ever had that thought before, it is unique to you."

General Lorel's eyes narrowed in thought. "I believe that all of my ideas are unique to me, are they not?"

General Victorel chuckled briefly, "No, not even close. All of your ideas from beginning to end, have been thought of and done by other beings in other galaxies on other worlds before you were ever created."

Lorel thought some more and then asked, "So, why did The King say no? Why is he not allowing me to do this thing, to become one of you so that I too can create; to be worshipped and adored the way you are? Is this not a noble and holy aspiration, to be as you are?"

General Victorel looked deeply into General Lorel's eyes and said, "We can read not only your thoughts, but the intent of your thoughts, the motive behind the motive. We created you; your very essence comes from us, and we understand you better than you understand yourself. You cannot understand this right now, but your motives at their core are what is called selfish. It is only a tiny seed right now and the Consulate can eradicate it completely if you do not hold onto it and cultivate it."

General Victorel continued, "Right now, you cannot imagine anything better than to be a member of the Consulate, but hear me when I tell you, that at this juncture, that is just not a possibility for any creature that we have created."

General Lorel was quick, "So you mean, you plan to create someone in the future that will be like you; that will be able to become one of you?"

"I will answer that question by and by," General Victorel said, "but for now, we need to go back to how you are feeling and why.

Disbelief, the first of the myriad feelings that is coursing through you, is the most dangerous, because it is the one that leads to all the others, the anger, pain, loneliness and fear. If you can conquer that first feeling of disbelief by choosing to believe so completely in the Consulate's love for you and their perfect wisdom in all things, that you accept our answer of no just as if we had said yes, without question and in complete harmony and obedience to our will _, even though you do not understand why_ , then that will suffice to squelch all the other things that you have started to feel and you will once again be at peace; do you understand what I am saying to you?" Lorel nodded but remained silent.

"What you must do at this point General, is to believe that you are being told no because what you ask is just not possible for you."

Lorel shook his head in disagreement, "I can become anything I want and you know this very well! I can turn myself into a flower or be part of the sea or become a majestic tree! You know I can...."

At this point, General Victorel put up his hand to halt Lorel's tirade. "You can look like them on the outside Lorel, but you cannot be what they actually are on the inside. Your mind is who you are and you will always be General Lorel, no matter what form you take."

Lorel stopped, silently conceding defeat on that particular point, but he was far from finished. He pointed to General Victorel and said, "You, the Consulate, are omnipotent, you can do anything, anything at all! So, this thing that I ask is not impossible for you!"

General Victorel nodded his head in agreement, "You are correct on that point, but what you ask is impossible for you because of how we created you. We did not create you to become one of the Consulate, you are not made that way."

"So create me over, make me be whatever it is I need to be so that I too can create!"

General Victorel was gentle but firm. "If that was to have been your purpose, you would have been created like that from the beginning. You, however, have another purpose to serve.

"But," General Lorel shook his head, unwilling to concede his point. "The Consulate is also omniscient, right? You know everything that's going to happen before it happens?" General Victorel nodded. "So you knew that I would ask for this before you created me! You knew that you would tell me no and also knew that I would feel the way that I am feeling." General Victorel nodded again and Lorel continued, "And yet, you still created me _like this_ , you could have made me otherwise so that none of this would be taking place, but you did not! Why did you make me like this, unable to change and become what I would wish to be?"

General Victorel replied, "Some purposes of the Consulate are not for you to understand at this time. You are right in your reasoning, but this is not the time and you are not the creation to fulfill this purpose."

General Lorel thought about that as they sat there together in silence for a moment, before he began again. "You say that some purposes of the Consulate are not for me to understand, so that means that there is a purpose for this unique idea that I have, some purpose for these feelings that have overwhelmed me, for you are right, I know that the Consulate does nothing without purpose!"

Lorel was beginning to get excited because he felt that he was on to something important. He got up from the strangely silent, unmoving chair and began to pace back and forth in the mist that curled out of the darkness at their feet. He continued to talk, but it was more like he was talking to himself and General Victorel was just a bystander that happened to be listening.

"You, the Consulate are good and perfect and holy and everything that you make comes directly from yourselves, so it is good and perfect and holy as well. That means that I am good and perfect and holy and my thoughts and motives and intents can only be good and perfect and holy, so...." Here Lorel paused and turned back to General Victorel who was still seated, "So why would you tell me no? There must be some reason for these feelings that I have, for nothing happens in the entire universe without your seal of approval. Everything that you have created as you said, has purpose, so it must be _my_ purpose to feel this way and to have these unique and original ideas that I have!"

General Victorel was silent so Lorel continued. "I am beginning to be convinced that there is a reason for why I am feeling this way right now, and that there _is_ a point for my idea, so I put forth a new proposal! If the Consulate has plans to create someone in the future to actually be what I aspire to be, change those plans and allow _me_ to be that creature!"

He came over to General Victorel, his eyes imploring him to acquiesce. "I am already here, I have the desire to fulfill your future creation's purpose; you can _re_ create me to _become_ that creation and both of us will get exactly what we desire!"

His eyes were alight with new hope that he thought he'd won the argument with his perfect logic; he was after all perfect. "You cannot deny that my argument is sound for I can have no thoughts that are...." Here, he paused and searched for the right words, General Victorel filled them in for him.

"The words you are looking for are unholy, bad, wrong or evil." Here he sighed and said, "These are more words that you presently have no awareness of along with many other concepts which are foreign to you. One of those concepts is something called opposite. It is a thing that is completely different from its counterpart. I brought you here, to this place," and he gestured to the darkness and emptiness around them, "to show you just what I mean."

After a moment he continued, "Opposite of good, which you understand perfectly, is evil. Opposite of light, which you are, possess and perpetually dwell in, is darkness, which is simply the absence of light. Opposite of love, which we, the Consulate are and ever will be and what we bestow upon all of our creations, is hate. Everything has an opposite, but you and everything that we have created thus far, have been created with no knowledge of opposites. It is a knowledge that is powerful; almost as powerful as love, but where love creates life, hate and evil create death, which is itself the opposite of life."

He stopped and pointed to the chair that General Lorel had recently vacated. "You noticed this chair here? Do you see the difference......"

General Lorel nodded excitedly, "Yes, yes I see that it is silent, it does not move or sing or have color that moves through it! I noticed it when we first arrived."

"This is a dead chair." General Victorel intoned solemnly, but it is only an illusion that I created, it does not actually exist. Nothing in the universe is actually dead or without some form of life, but Lorel," and here he stood as well and approached General Lorel with sincerity in his voice, placing his hands on General Lorel's shoulders and looking into his eyes, "Hear me when I say that if you pursue this path that you are on, death will become a reality. By not accepting our decision to tell you no, by not believing that our decision is for your best good, by opposing us, you will become the opposite of us. You will become evil instead of good, become darkness instead of light, you will in effect become dead to us, dead to love, dead to all that you now know and possess. A change _will_ take place within you and you will become like this chair; dead to all that you presently know, and alive to what you do not now understand. You will become death."

General Lorel's face contorted as he contemplated General Victorel's words. General Victorel continued, "Right now, you are doing something with your face called frowning, it is the opposite of smiling." You are feeling things that are the opposite of happiness, joy and peace and this is dangerous. Pursuing your ambitions for being a member of the Consulate will not bring the results you seek. You will not become one of us, you will become opposite of us because that is how you were created. So, General, I strongly advise you to abandon your idea, unique though it is, and be content with your place in Aeriel, and continue on in the life that you know and love."

General Victorel fell silent as he waited for General Lorel to speak. After a moment, General Lorel sighed and looked up at him saying, "You have given me quite a lot to contemplate, but I must think about this further, maybe talk it over with my comrades to get their opinions."

General Victorel smiled and nodded, "We live in eternity, so you may take as long as you need and tell whom you like. You know you have the freedom to choose how you will live, but be warned, if you continue down this path that you have started on, you will come to a point of no return."

"What do you mean?" Asked Lorel.

"Only this, that if you choose to pursue this course and oppose the Consulate, that when you become the opposite of us, you will never again be as you are now. You will never be Lorel again, but will become someone else."

Lorel narrowed his eyes in exasperation, "But I thought you said that I would always be General Lorel, no matter what I look like on the outside!"

General Victorel shook his head slowly and said, "That was for when you change your outward appearance to take on the physical attributes of something else, but what you are now in pursuit of will bring about an inward change, and it will permanently change who you are on the inside. We have told you over and over again that your pursuit of this will not bring the results that you desire, it will only activate cause and effect. The cause is opposing us and the effect is to become the opposite of us. This is a mystery that you must experience in order to fully understand, but I hope that you will not.

General Lorel nodded, took a deep breath and said, "I understand what you have said, I will think it over and let you know what I decide." General Victorel nodded, put his hand on General Lorel's shoulder and instantly, they were back in the bright light of Aeriel.
**CHAPTER SIX**

General Lorel took a deep breath and smiled. For the short time that they had been off-world, he had missed the light and beauty of Aeriel, but he didn't say anything about that, he simply saluted General Victorel and then shot into the air, immediately connecting telepathically to Gabe and Azazel.

Meet me by the crystal waterfalls, I have news, he conveyed to them. When he arrived, they were already there, hovering in the rainbow spray of the waterfall with sprites dancing about them, waiting for him expectantly.

"So what did you say to the Consulate after we left?" Azazel asked. General Lorel connected to them both telepathically and conveyed his entire conversation with General Victorel to them. Their facial expressions started at bewilderment, but locked on understanding by the time he got to the part about just believing and trusting in the Consulate, even though he may not understand or even agree with their actions.

"That makes perfect sense." Gabe offered, while Azazel nodded in agreement.

General Lorel gaped at them, "You mean, you do not think that I should pursue this just because they have always been right in the past? What if this time, this one time, they are not right?! What if they have over-looked something or under-estimated my abilities? Look at me, am I not General Lorel, perfect in every respect because THEY made me so?! Come on, THINK guys, use your heads! Stop always doing what you are told just because you have been told! You have the mind, the ability to do just about anything!"

Gabe shook his head and replied, "You are not using _your_ head General. The Consulate is always right because they can be nothing else; you know that, it is basic. You should do what they say and let this go."

Suddenly another idea occurred to General Lorel, a new idea, "Okay, you may be right about that, but what if this whole exercise of telling me no is to get me to do what no one else has ever done? Maybe they _want_ me to oppose them! That may be my ultimate purpose, to become opposite of them, to become this evil that is as great as their good!"

Azazel squinted his eyes and asked, "What do you mean?"

General Lorel was thinking furiously as he started to explain, "When the Consulate said no to my plan, it made me feel even more determined to find a way to implement it. They _knew_ that would happen! _They know everything_!"

"So what? What does that prove?" Asked Azazel.

"It does not actually _prove_ anything, but they created me! They could have created me so that I would never come up with this idea at all, but they did not! That must mean that when they created me and knew that this would happen, they did it anyway because there is a purpose for it. They do nothing without purpose!"

Gabe had his chin in his hand and he was thoughtful. "I think I see where you are going with this. You think that you were meant to become their opposite, but you have to do it on your own, that the whole point is that they want you to say no to them?"

General Lorel smiled, his eyes dancing with excitement. "Exactly Gabe! This will be the experiment of all time!"

Then his eyes narrowed as the thought took root and began to grow in his mind. "I would be a Consulate in my own right, powerful and able to create like they do and maybe them saying no is designed to teach me, no teach _us_ to rely on ourselves and our own holiness so that we can become more like them!"

Gabe and Azazel still looked skeptical so Lorel continued, "Look, this is all something that has never happened before, never even been thought of by anyone else and I thought of it, me, all by myself! I cannot let it go without exploring it further, especially if it turns out that by opposing them, I am actually doing their will!"

Gabe started shaking his head even more vigorously and Azazel was looking down through the mist at his feet as if contemplating the water as it cascaded down the cliff side and boiled beneath them, deep in thought.

When neither of them said anything to him, General Lorel continued, "Look, I believe I have stumbled upon some mystery or secret that they do not want anyone to know about, you know, this death and evil and badness? I mean they have kept it hidden from us pretty well up till now, but what if it is the best thing that has ever happened to us? What if we decide we like and want this hate instead of love or the darkness instead of the light, although," and here he paused with a hand on his chin, "Where General Victorel took me, this darkness existed and to be honest, it was not all that great." Then he shook his head, brushing off that particular thought as he looked up at them and plowed on, "But never-mind that, what if all the rest of it is absolutely so much better than what we have now? I mean, look at my record! Have I ever done anything that you guys did not think was greatness?!"

"No, Azazel responded, I have to say that everything that you have ever done has only amped up everything around here 1000%. If it were up to me, I would let you try your idea, just to see where it might lead, I mean, what harm can it really do?"

"Well, I told you what General Victorel said, that I would "die", and here he did air quotes with his wingtips, "but what does that really even mean? And I know that even if they are absolutely right and it ends up being not what I expected, they have got some remedy for the whole thing, they are the Consulate after all; absolutely nothing is beyond them."

Azazel had gone from shaking his head, to being thoughtful and now he was nodding encouragingly to Lorel. "You know, I think you should go for it, I mean, General Victorel said that it was your choice and I think all that means is that they are not going to help you become one of them, but they are not going to hold you back either."

Lorel nodded excitedly and clapped Azazel on the shoulder, "That is it, that is the spirit! What do you say Gabe, are you with us? I need all the support I can get if I am going to convince the rest of the Etherael to go along."

Gabe looked at him incredulously and asked, "You are going to try to get the host on your side?"

General Lorel nodded and said, "Sure, why not? In the first place, the more I have on my side, the more the Consulate will have to listen, take notice and pay attention to what we are doing and our results."

"They pay attention to what we do all the time anyway," Gabe rejoined, "I do not see why you would have to get all the Etherael to go against them as well."

"Just listen!" General Lorel insisted, "The second reason is more compelling than the first. If I am correct, which I know I am, do you not think that the rest of the Etherael should have the right to choose how they want to live as well? They should hear all the specifics and decide what is right for them and not continue to allow the Consulate to choose for them as they have always done in times past!"

General Lorel was very passionate and at this point, Azazel and Gabe both began nodding as they felt his reasoning was sound.

Azazel spoke up after General Lorel finished talking, "Let us go now to the host and mind-link with them, sharing all that we have learned. They will join us, I am most certain of it and we will support you General Lorel to become, to replace...."

Here, he stopped as he looked at General Lorel with a look of horror. "Wait, what will become of General Victorel if you replace him?! Maybe this is why it cannot be done, because only three can be on the Consulate."

General Lorel shook his head at Azazel as if he were missing a very obvious point. "He would take my place of course. It is an even swap."

Azazel shook his head and said, "I do not think I would want to become an Etherael after being a member of the Consulate."

General Lorel interjected, "But do you not see, he is already one of us! Have you ever seen him as anything other than an Etherael? The only time he becomes something else is when they have a secret counsel and they all merge into one; but every other time we see him, he looks just like us anyway! Look at our titles, we are both Generals! We are exactly the same! Except I think that I might be more beautiful, but other than that, the only difference is that he gets to be a member of the Consulate and I do not! It will not be that big of a deal, Azazel, you will see. My position, after all is right below his, he would only have to take one meager step down to fill my shoes, and one small step up for me to fill his."

The three of them went silent for a moment, each of them lost in his own private thoughts. General Lorel broke the silence. "Look, all I am asking for is a short trial period anyway, nothing permanent. I just want to prove that I am right, because I know I am, I can feel it in my inner light!"

At this point, Gabe stirred himself from his reverie and sighed. "This is the first time I have had some questions about one of your schemes Lorel, but since you say it is only a trial period you want and nothing more, then let us go to the host and see how many of them will join you in your endeavor."

General Lorel clapped him and Azazel on their backs in excitement and the three of them shot off to gather the host in an Etherael conference. They linked telepathically to each other to lend their individual mental voices more strength and then called "All Etherael to the main pavilion for a conference!" They called four times in each direction of the compass.

The three of them, traveling at the speed of light, arrived in the pavilion high in the air, right before they got to open space where the gateway to the worlds began, just as all the other Etherael were arriving. The air was filled with wall to wall Etherael, billions upon billions of huge, bright beings all talking at once; but they were such musical beings that even their chatter sounded melodious.

General Lorel came to the center of the circle that they made and glowed brightly, flashing his inner lightning three times to call the meeting to order and immediately, there was silence. General Lorel started to speak, but before he could, there was a clap of thunder and the Consulate appeared beside him in the center of the pavilion. He thought they might have come to stop him from speaking to the Etherael about his plan, but then The King spoke.

"My Etherael Host, we, the Consulate have come to invite you and all the worlds and their inhabitants, to bear witness to an exciting, new creation that we are about to bring into existence." He then turned to General Lorel, who stood by respectfully.

"General, I know that you were about to enlist the Etherael in helping you with your quest to become one of the Consulate, but do you mind if that waits just a little while? We are about to embark on a new era and I believe this new thing that we are about to do will capture even your vivid imagination! It is related to your recent request and you will all be viewing our surprise via the new VS that General Lorel introduced to us a few millennia ago.

General Victorel's eyes were twinkling with pleasure and he was clearly excited about the project they were about to embark upon, so General Lorel smiled and inclined his head.

"Absolutely, let it be as you wish." He spoke sincerely, his love for the Consulate radiating from his very being. "I am very interested to see what it is that you will create, especially since you say it correlates to my request. Please commence."

The Consulate lifted their eyes to the gateway in space expectantly and the sons of The King from the surrounding planets streamed down to join the shining throng of Etherael to watch.

The Consulate then opened a space in the center of the pavilion where everyone could view the new creation via a general VS hologram. They were all linked to it mentally and every being could clearly see, no matter what their place or position. They were even able to individually zoom in on something that they wanted to see closer while everyone else was looking at something else.

General Lorel recognized the scene in the hologram and wondered what was about to happen next. The Consulate then disappeared from the pavilion only to reappear to everyone's view directly in the VS hologram, right in the midst of a space that was as black as the blackest midnight. The Universe watched intently as they began.
**CHAPTER SEVEN**

"It is time." The Consulate spoke as one when they stepped out of bright space, to where that tiny pocket of darkness floated, where General Victorel and General Lorel had come to talk.

The Advisor and General Victorel melded into The King and they became one fiery inferno of flame that burned brightly in the darkness.

"Light!" And suddenly, in the midst of the darkness was a soft, white light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

The Universe continued to watch as a planet was formed and an atmosphere appeared to encircle the planet.

Suddenly, in the blackness that had been pushed back, there hung a huge flaming sun, gazillions of twinkling stars, and twin moons. In mere seconds an entire galaxy had been created from nothing at all.

The tiny blue planet that seemed to be made up entirely of water suddenly bloomed with large spots of brown. The brown seemed to take over the blue, swallow it up and then just as quickly, the brown, turned to green.

The green was of all different hues, emerald green, olive, lime, and chartreuse to name a few. The tiny marble was magnificent, blue and green, swathed in bands of white. It glittered in the light of the sun flung high in space along with trillions of stars which made up millions of galaxies. It sparkled in the darkness like the finest jewel, flashing as it began to slowly turn and rotate.

The fiery inferno of flame that was the Consulate landed gently on the surface of the new planet Lyra, and then knelt down. Flaming hands scooped up brown dust, and as the dust touched the flames, it changed and melted.

The King began to mold this dust and the universe watched eagerly. They had seen the Consulate speak things into existence many times, or point and watched objects appear, but they had never seen them do anything like this. With bated breath, they watched as The King fashioned a being completely with his hands. From the top of its head to the bottom of its feet, The King's fiery hands lovingly crafted and sculpted each and every part.

When he was finished with the form, he sat back and looked it over, and then kneeling over it once again, the flame hovered over the head of the form and the Advisor streamed from the flames into the tiny holes in the forms head. The Universe gasped as the creature took its first deep breath and then opened its eyes.

Back at the pavilion on Aeriel, the spectators were attentive and responsive to each and every nuance of the creation of the new world. Murmurs of appreciation, surprise and speculation could be heard throughout the pavilion.

General Lorel sat, stunned at the turn of events, as he sat listening to his entourage comment on the Consulate's creation. They seemed oblivious to his frame of mind as they talked amongst themselves.

"The creature holds within his body the Advisor, he is become like the Consulate!" Loudon said.

"Yes, but he is only one, where they are three and that is _not_ like the Consulate." Another named Mercuriel argued.

There were many discussions going on at once. Bree said, "The creature has no wings, it would seem that it is bound to the planet from which it was taken."

Draya chimed in, "Did you notice that the entire space is set on some kind of loop? Their days are split into two portions, one is light and the other is dark and it repeats itself over and over again. I wonder why that is?"

Lancing spoke up, "Did you see that there were only two beings created and that one was taken out of the other?!"

"Yes," Said Puphf, "I too thought that was most interesting. The planet seems excessively large for only two beings, even with all of the other creatures that were made, but we will be able to ask the Consulate questions when they return, they have already been down there for 6 and ½ of those...days I think is what he called them."

Azazel spoke up then, "Do you think it will be much longer? They don't seem to be doing anymore creating, just kind of conversing with, what did he call them? Adon and Alyss? They are a lovely pair though, are they not?"

"Yes," Gabe agreed, Adon is magnificent, very majestic and well formed, but that Alyss!" Here he let out a low whistle. "She is really something else! I have never seen anything quite like her!"

The talk went on and on, flowing around General Lorel as he sat in silence, turning over in his mind what he had seen and the ramifications of this new creation. He was quite certain that the two inhabitants on the new planet were the very creatures that General Victorel had spoken of that would have the ability to not only become like the Consulate, but to be able to be one with them and to create new life.

When the Consulate had knelt down in the dust and actually molded the being with their own hands, instead of simply speaking it into existence, General Lorel knew there was something very special about this creation. But when the Advisor had streamed into the creatures very being, giving it life, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the very creation that was destined to fulfill _his_ dream. But why not him?! If the Consulate was as powerful and almighty as they said, why could they not just do as he asked? Nothing, absolutely nothing was beyond them!

It could be done, General Lorel was suddenly as sure of that fact as he was of his own name; but for some unknown reason, they withheld this power from him. He would have it though, if it was the last thing he did, he would be a member of the Consulate, maybe even become the Consulate itself! And as the Consulate, he would never hold anyone back from fulfilling their dreams! He would grant every wish and rule with fairness to every creature!

Suddenly, the Consulate appeared back in the pavilion, three separate beings once again, but laughing and celebrating over the completion of the planet Lyra. They began to recount some of the things that had stood out to them. "Did you see Adon's face when he first saw Alyss?" It was priceless I tell you! All he could say was 'Whooaa, MAN!!' so that is what she ended up being called! He called her woman!"

Everyone thought this was a great joke and laughed uproariously for some time. "Yes Consulate," said Gabe, "She is the epitome of loveliness and grace."

The King turned back to the VS that was still open, showing the brand new world as it hung, slowly turning in the black space that was dotted with brilliant stars. He changed the picture, focusing and zooming in specifically on Alyss; and there she was, larger than life as if she really stood before them.

She looked like nothing they had ever seen before. All of the creatures of Aeriel and the other worlds were mainly creatures of light, fire and spirit, but Alyss was completely solid through and through, with just a covering of light.

The pavilion quieted down to watch her as she walked gracefully over to a tree and plucked a piece of fruit, which she then bit into. The juices from the succulent fruit ran down her chin right into the covering of light that surrounded her, where they simply faded away, leaving her chin juice free.

Her hair fell in thick, perfect ringlets down her back. It seemed to shift in color, depending on the light. It looked dark in the shadows, light in the sun, and in the reddish, orange glow of a sunset, it looked fiery red. Each hue complemented and brought out the perfection of her olive-toned skin.

The color of her eyes was also subject to change. They were hazel, but if she were near the blue sea, they were blue, if she was lying in the green grass, they were green, if she was turning the rich, brown earth over in her hands, then her eyes were brown.

Adon beside her was majestic and tall, easily spanning 18 feet in height, and his love for Alyss was easy to see. He was so attentive to her, sometimes doing things to make her laugh or to show off his physical prowess, which was considerable. They splashed in the clear blue of the sea as it foamed and waved up on pink sand.

"Gabe leaned over and spoke to Lorel, "Their sea does not live the way ours does, can you tell? It moves in waves like our sea, but there is no intelligence there, like it is empty."

"Not empty," chimed in Bree who was behind them, "Did you see all of the different kinds of fish that are in the water?!"

"Yes, I see the fish," said Gabe patiently, "but even they have no intelligence. I wonder if Adon can communicate with them like we can with ours."

"Yes, they both can." General Victorel answered the question from where he hovered in the air; and then he continued on to answer more fully. "They can commune with each and every living thing on their planet, just as you can here in Aeriel. The difference is as you said Bree, all the life that is there is not intelligent life. It is living, but only in the sense that it breathes in and out and its body has functions. Most of the animals there act on instinct, without giving their actions any thought. There are a few that have a limited intelligence, but Adon and Alyss are the most intelligent life form there and they have dominion over everything else that we created on that world. Adon and Alyss also have the ability to change, grow, learn and mature, whereas all of our other creations have come from us with all of the knowledge that they will ever need."

All of the Etherael murmured approvingly, their wings rustling in excitement over the new planet with its pair of new beings.

"But why only two?" General Lorel finally spoke as he asked the question. "You made us many thousands upon thousands times ten thousand, why would you only make two of them? It seems like not enough for that entire planet."

The Consulate laughed in delight and General Victorel answered, "As usual General Lorel, you have come to a very important aspect of this creation. You see, we did create billions upon billions of these beings, just as we created billions of Etherael."

General Lorel glanced back at the hologram as though he might have missed seeing something.

"No, you cannot see them." General Victorel answered the unspoken thought, "But when we were making Adon, who is a Lyran, all the rest of Lyrankind were made right along with him, only they are very small. They start out as tiny seeds that I have placed within Adon. In effect, he carries his entire race within himself!"

General Lorel was incredulous. "Then how are they to get out?" He asked.

General Victorel answered, "You have seen the Consulate at work in creation, and you know that we merge during the creation process.

"Yes!" Spoke up Lancing, "You merge into one being."

General Victorel nodded in acknowledgement of Lancing's correct answer. "Yes and that is how they will multiply, how the seeds will "get out" as you so aptly put it Lorel." The General smiled gently.

"So they merge into one being?" Asked Mercuriel, he was puzzling over the matter, but General Lorel had already figured it out.

"Yes Mercuriel, they merged on the first night of their existence, do you not remember the sparks flying from the aura that started out as two but then became one?"

Mercuriel's face relaxed into a smile. "Oh yes, I do remember that, but I didn't know what they were doing."

General Victorel laughed and said, "You were not actually meant to see the act of producing life, it is a very private, intimate thing between husband and wife.

"That is what they are called?" Asked Bree, "I thought their names were Adon and Alyss."

"You are correct Bree," said The King, "Their names are Adon and Alyss, but their relationship to each other is husband and wife."

"But I could still see two distinct and separate beings, even though their auras became one aura, so I did not know they were actually merging."

"They do not merge exactly or as completely as we do," said The King, it is more like parts of them come together and an exchange takes place that facilitates in the seeds inside of Adon getting out and going into Alyss. When Adon puts his seed into Alyss, there is something in Alyss that combines with the seed of Adon and from this union comes a new life!"

Gabe spoke up then, "Just as when you merge with General Victorel and the Advisor and then you create new life?" he asked.

"That is it exactly!" The Consulate seemed pleased that they had made the connections so quickly.

General Lorel leaned forward and again joined the conversation. "So, this is the creation that you were telling me about, these creatures that you have made, have the ability to become one of you, a member of the Consulate?!"

He was staring at the VS hologram as he spoke, watching as Adon and Alyss merged once more into one, the two still separate, but their light coverings merging completely into one single light.

General Victorel nodded in agreement and turned away from them to watch the VS with General Lorel and to smile at the happy pair, seemingly oblivious to the rage that had bloomed instantly within General Lorel upon seeing hard proof that his dream would become a reality; for someone else. His rage simmered just beneath the thin veneer of calm that he clung to, to hide what he was feeling, but the Consulate were never oblivious and in the instant that General Victorel turned to smile at Adon and Alyss, he gently placed his hand on General Lorel's shoulder and they were transported back to the throne room, where The King and the Advisor joined them.
**CHAPTER EIGHT**

"WHY?!" General Lorel roared, the sound reverberating throughout the room causing the doorposts to shiver and the floor to writhe in query. General Lorel himself was quivering from the tip of his colossal wings to the end of his burnished feet.

"Be still for a moment General Lorel and we will attempt to explain it to you." General Victorel spoke gently to him, his hand still resting on his shoulder.

General Lorel put his face in his hands as if trying to wipe away the things that he was feeling, as if trying to make his mind's eye un-see what it had already clearly seen.

The King waved his hand over Lorel and he ceased to shudder. He looked up from his hands and his face was calm. "Thank you Sir. I was beginning to wonder what was happening to me." General Lorel smiled in gratitude at the Consulate, but General Victorel's eyes were serious as he looked at Lorel.

"We have brought you here to the throne room to talk to you about the development of the Lyran race. You, General Lorel, have a vital role to play in their development, in their becoming what they were meant to become."

As General Victorel was talking to him, General Lorel began shaking his head. Whatever calming influence the Consulate had just bestowed upon him, he shook off in anger. "NO!" He said forcefully. Smoke and voices issued forth from the throne in protest to this proclamation of General Lorel's.

"You have never said no to us before," responded The King, "What makes you do so now?"

General Lorel turned to him and keeping his voice modulated with difficulty he replied, "You, the Consulate have had no problem in telling me no; do I not have freedom to do the same?"

General Victorel nodded and said, "You have that freedom General Lorel; as I told you before, you may live as you wish."

General Lorel nodded stiffly and then replied, "Thank you for that, because I will make it known to you here and now that I will never, ever help the Lyrans to become what I aspired to be!"

"Is this your final decision then General Lorel, have you decided to oppose us?"

General Lorel hesitated and then shrugged his shoulders in a helpless gesture. "I don't know what it would mean to oppose you, and now that these ideas are in my mind, I cannot seem to let them go without first proving them."

He paused for a moment as if to gather his thoughts, and then continued. "It does not seem fair to me that you will not give me some proof that what you say is right and what I say is not. If you would only show me..."

Here General Victorel looked at The King and there seemed to be some small, unspoken exchange between them. After that, The King said, "Very well, General Lorel, we will give you a glimpse into the future to show you only a little of what will transpire if you continue on this path of opposing the Consulate, but this is only a glimpse, mind you; a small slice, if you will, of the future."

General Lorel nodded, he was a little excited about this, for it too was unprecedented; no one had ever seen the future before, that was the privilege of the Consulate alone.

Without further ado or explanation, a flame of fire left the throne, separating itself from The King. It shot to the middle of the room and then hovered in mid-air, whirling in a circle, faster and faster until a hole opened up in the middle of the flame. The hole became larger while the flame on the edges thinned, but all the time, the flame still whirled faster and faster.

Where there had only been a hole that you could see through to the other side of the room, there now appeared a scene that General Lorel did not recognize. The scene was not a still picture, but a moving one that depicted small, puny beings that looked fragile and frail, doing something to other fragile beings, and whatever they were doing was making a horrible noise issue from within them.

The atmosphere in the scene was dark and General Lorel saw shadowy beings that he thought he recognized, standing over the puny ones, giving them instructions on how to make more noise come from their victims and then laughing uproariously while they obeyed their every command.

Lorel looked closer at the shadowy beings and recognized Loudon, Shaliel and Nimel; but they were much altered from their present state. They still looked like themselves, but the lightening that now ran through them continuously was absent. The most striking change, however, were their faces. They were twisted into what General Victorel had called a frown, but much worse. And the expression didn't quite go with the laughter, although it didn't sound like true laughter. The sound of it gave General Lorel a feeling that he'd never had before, a feeling that he did not like.

"What has happened to Loudon, Shaliel and Nimel? And what are they doing to those small, fragile looking beings?" He asked in a whisper.

"In this future scene, your comrades have changed. This is something that we will call, the dark ages. Your comrades are telling the Lyrans, for that is what they are, what to do to each other to inflict the most pain."

At this disclosure, General Lorel gasped aloud. "Lyrans? Like Adon and Alyss, your new creation?"

General Victorel nodded and he did not look happy.

"But they look so different, so altered and not in a good way! How did this come about?!"

"It came about because of you General Lorel." Said The King. "If you pursue the course that you are on, then this is only a very tiny, miniscule portion of the result."

General Lorel began shaking his head, his eyes riveted on the scene playing out in the midst of the whirling flames. One Lyran was ramming a long pointed object into the other and red fluid was leaking out. The Lyran being rammed was making an awful noise and General Lorel turned away in pure disgust, his mighty frame shuddering with emotion. When he spoke again, it was in a low tone. "I do not want any of that to happen, but I do not see how what I want is in any way connected to the scene you just showed me. How is me wanting to be a creator like you end up with _that_?!" He said the word with disgust, refusing to look up at the scene that continued to play out in the swirling flames.

General Victorel sighed and said, "If we sat here and took the time to tell you the complete story from beginning to end, you still would not understand. It involves concepts that you are not familiar with, concepts that are totally foreign to what you presently are. Even seeing this scene has not convinced you that what you see is connected in any way to you personally. That is why you must trust us. We know everything and we only want what is for your best good!"

In the silence that followed, the flames holding the wretched scene returned to The King from whence they came. General Lorel rubbed his hands over his face once more, then shook his head. "I do not know what I am going to do, but I do know that I want to put this whole thing before the host. I think that they will be able to help me decide what it is I need to do."

General Victorel nodded and said, "Then let us go back to the pavilion where the Etherael are still assembled. There, both sides may be presented and maybe that will help you to decide.

Back at the pavilion, General Lorel's closest friends were no longer paying attention to the new creation, they were talking amongst themselves in a close cluster with Gabe and Azazel at the center. Everyone had noticed the sudden disappearance of General Lorel along with the Consulate and when they began to wonder aloud at it, Gabe and Azazel had filled them in on what was taking place with. Now everyone was abuzz with speculation, wondering what was going to happen.

Just then, the Consulate along with General Lorel appeared in the center of the pavilion, and everyone stopped talking to see what would take place. With a wave of his hand, General Victorel shut down the VS that showed the new world, and the pavilion was quiet except for the gentle whisper of rustling wings. The King spoke first.

"Etherael of Aeriel, General Lorel has something that he would like to put before you and he would like your opinion and input in making an important decision that has the potential to affect not only all of you, but the entire universe as we know it." He then turned to General Lorel and nodded while saying, "Speak your heart General, we are all listening."

General Lorel flew forward and hovered in the air. He looked around at all of the Etherael, the sprites, the sons of The King and the visitors that had come to see the new creation take place. "I will be brief." He started, "But if you have any questions when I am finished, the Consulate and myself will answer them as best we can.

I requested of the Consulate that they allow me to create something of my own, the same way that you have seen them create new worlds and new beings. I wanted to do this because I wanted something of my very own to love, and to love and worship me in return, the way we do the Consulate.

You all know that I have implemented many new things on Aeriel and on other worlds as well. I was under the impression that all of the things I implemented were brand new, but the Consulate has informed me that all of them have been done before by other beings on other worlds long before me. This is the second reason that I long to implement my new plan, for its originality; but I have been told that my idea is not something that should be accomplished because it will not bring the results that I hope to achieve.

I have been shown many things and instead of telling them to you all, I will simply link to you telepathically and fill you in on every detail, so that you will have the same knowledge that I do and you can tell me your opinions on this matter."

With that being said, General Lorel closed his eyes and linked himself to every being in the pavilion and there was silence for a while. Towards the end, rustlings and murmurings could be heard, and then it was finished and General Lorel spoke once again.

"Fellow Etherael, everyone; you now know everything that I know. Please say what is on your mind and in your heart."

Gabe spoke up first. "As one of your closest confidants, I have been privy to some of this knowledge before the others and have had more time to ponder it. I believe, General Lorel, that you should trust in the wisdom of the Consulate to know what is best for all of us. They created us and we have been happy and peaceful. From what I have seen here today, I would strongly urge you to give up this quest for creative power, this quest to be a member of the Consulate, and be content to remain our leader and friend." Gabe then saluted respectfully and stepped back.

From among the throngs of Etherael, Shaliel spoke up and said, "I too would like to create and have a chance to be a member of the Consulate. If General Lorel pursues this course, I would like to join him. He has always had good ideas and they have always made things better and more exciting." He ceased speaking and General Lorel spoke again.

"I have been thinking while you were speaking and as you know, the Consulate has said that we do have the freedom to choose how we will live. I know that the Consulate is holy, just and good and only love flows from them. That means that we are holy, just and good and only love flows from us. I believe that if I," and then he amended his statement, "I mean WE," and he nodded towards Shaliel, are allowed to pursue this, then it will turn out well in the end and we will all be better for it.

The Consulate says that the knowledge I wish to acquire is for the Gods alone, well then I say, I want to be a God, a creator; so if this knowledge is necessary to become a God, then I want knowledge of..." and here he paused for a moment before he continued, "evil and death."

The murmurs in the pavilion resumed and got louder as Etherael began to talk amongst themselves and comment on what was taking place.

Then The King spoke, "This meeting was to fill you in on all of the details of the issue, so that if you feel like Gabe, you may stand with the Consulate, or if you feel as Shaliel does, then you can take a stand with General Lorel. We will give you time to contemplate and talk things over and if you have any questions that General Lorel cannot answer, feel free to come to the throne room and ask us, we will answer any questions you may have."

With that being said, the Consulate vanished from the pavilion and left General Lorel there with the rest of them. As soon as they had left, everyone converged on General Lorel to talk to him and ask him questions.

Eons in Aeriel rolled by, and all anyone could speak of was the controversial impending trial. Debates waged long, and bitter conflicts broke out between opposing sides. The peace and harmony that once characterized Aeriel was shattered as the war of words raged on. Some Etherael switched sides more than once, while others had chosen their course from the beginning and stayed true to their cause, arguing fervently to get opposing Etherael to join them.

In the end, everyone was aligned with either General Lorel or the Consulate, and General Lorel felt confident that he had enough support to pursue his plan.

At his command, the Etherael gathered in the pavilion once again to let the Consulate know what they had decided. Before they did, the Consulate spoke on the subject for the last time through The King.

"We want to make it perfectly clear to each of you before you make your final decision, that this will only be a trial, as General Lorel has requested, but at the end of the trial period, the choice that you make today will stand. Either you choose today to believe in the wisdom of the Consulate and live, or you choose to stand with General Lorel and die. We have tried to explain to you what evil and death are, but without actually experiencing it, you cannot fully understand.

We know that new things can be exciting and attractive, simply because it is new, but do not let that be your guide. You _do_ know Us, the Consulate, so your choice is now between what you know and understand, and exploring something new that you do not. We implore you to believe and trust in our knowledge, in our love for you and in our wisdom.

In an instant, the Consulate had moved to one side of the pavilion and at the same moment, had moved General Lorel to the other. In a loud voice, General Victorel spoke, "Anyone wishing to side with General Lorel, stand with him and anyone wishing to side with the Consulate, stand with us."

At that proclamation, at first, no one moved, then Shaliel moved to General Lorel's side and Charel moved to stand with the Consulate. After that, things happened very swiftly and there was a flurry of wings as all of the Etherael took up sides.

The last ones to decide were Gabe and Azazel. They approached General Lorel together and Gabe said, "We have ever been your closest friends and confidants, but this thing you do, you will have to do without us. Know that we love you and we hope that the outcome will be what you truly desire." Then they both gave a strong salute to General Lorel in a shower of sparks and turned to take their places with the Consulate.

General Lorel looked around at how many had chosen to side with him and he was happy to see that even though his best friends had decided to stay true to the Consulate, he had managed to draw a full third of all the Etherael after himself.

General Victorel spoke again in a voice like thunder, "The die is cast, the sides have been chosen, the stage has been set! As of this moment, the el will be stripped from your names for you will no longer be creatures of Aeriel! You will now be known as the Dark Horde, and General Lorel, you will now become Lor, the destroyer!

Gabe, I promote you to replace Lor as General of the Etherael host, and you will now be known as General Gabriel!" He paused for a moment looking around and then in a voice that reverberated throughout the universe he said, "Let the trial commence!"

At these words, lightning proceeded from the Consulate and entered into General Lorel and every Etherael that stood with him. The lightning crackled through them sucking the fire and light from their forms. In mere seconds, they stood there, dark and forbidding and with a wave of General Victorel's hand, they were suddenly gone.

For a few short heartbeats, the silence in Aeriel was deafening. General Gabriel, Azazel and all of the remaining Etherael host were in shock that their comrades had simply vanished.

"Look!" The King said. He waved his fiery hand and the VS in the center of the pavilion opened back up and everyone focused in on Lor and the dark horde.
**Chapter NINE**

Darkness swirled around Lor as he plummeted through space. He was going so fast he couldn't get control of his wings to slow or stop his flight or to even control where he was going. He sensed, rather than saw his comrades about him, falling in the same manner that he was and he tensed as he braced himself for what was to come.

After what seemed like an interminable time of hurtling through space, Lor and his host hit a barrier that slowed their flight and allowed Lor to begin regaining control of his wings. He flapped them frantically in an effort to stop, and succeeded in halting his flight, but the rest of his comrades were not as successful and they blew past him, some of them almost hitting him, whirling him about as he hovered in space.

He started flying again, this time under his own power and he was able to dodge being hit by most of his comrades, but then Bree plowed right into him and they tumbled down together through the barrier they had hit, into an atmosphere that was thicker and allowed them to halt their flight the rest of the way.

Lor was angry and he knocked Bree off of him as they all came to a stop and hovered in the air looking about them.

"Where are we?" asked Shali in a voice that Lor had never heard him use before. He sounded scared.

Suddenly, Lor was aware that he understood words and concepts that had previously been foreign to him. The fear he heard in Shali's voice was clear, the anger he was feeling at that moment was clear also, and death, a concept which he had never before even entertained or understood, immediately became his obsession, making him feel a mighty and terrible power thrilling through him. He felt more powerful than he had ever felt before, and with difficulty, he focused on the problem at hand as he answered Shali's question.

"I have been here before," Lor replied. General Victorel brought me here to talk to me; no, to LIE to me about my idea to be one of them!"

"What are we doing here?" asked Merc, as he flew up beside Lor.

"I don't know." Said Lor shortly, "this is the last thing I expected. I thought they were going to give me power or initiate some type of ceremony where I would suddenly become one of them, but I didn't think we would simply be kicked out of Aeriel and dumped here in this place! There is nothing here!"

Anger and the dark power that Lor was feeling began to boil to the surface and this time, General Victorel was not there to calm him.

"I thought they created the new world here." said Drex as he looked about.

The darkness seemed even thicker than the last time that Lor had been here with General Victorel. "Light!" He roared, as he tried to use the power he felt running through him to conjure a ball of light as General Victorel had done, but nothing happened.

Then a voice like many voices spoke and said, "Light!" and suddenly, light surrounded them and they could see the mist and water, but there was nothing else.

"What is going on? Lor, did you do that? Did you create light?" Drex asked, but Lor knew in an instant what was happening; he could hardly believe it himself, yet, it was happening before his very eyes!

"The Consulate is here!" he said, "Do you not see what is taking place, they are about to create Lyra!" The horde was confused, but Lor continued to explain even as they watched the water that was about them separate to form an atmosphere above them. It was different to be there in the midst of the creation, rather than to watch it happen from a distance as they had through the VS on Aeriel.

Lor spoke through clenched teeth, "They have sent us back in time, to the very beginning of the new world!"

"Why would they do that?" Asked Hari.

They were all clustered close together now, but Lor kept himself apart from them. He didn't care about them anymore, but only wanted to use them for his own ends. No one answered Hari's question and they continued to watch in silence as the sun, moon and stars suddenly spangled the sky about them in a dazzling array of glory. It seemed to take longer than it did when they were watching it before, but take place it did, as slowly Lyra was transformed from nothing, into a glorious ball of light and color.

"Maybe they brought us here to watch them create so that we will understand how to do it!" Drex said excitedly.

Lor's eyes narrowed in thought as they watched the animals being formed and then, the crowning act of the Consulate stooping down to gather the dust and form it into what they all knew would be Adon. He watched the process more closely this time, trying to garner all of the knowledge that he could from the process, but not for the sake of imitating or repeating it, he very much wanted to undo it, destroy it, mutilate and mangle it; to kill what the Consulate was now giving life.

"Let's go down and say hi to the Consulate and talk to Adon!" Said Drex, even more excited that before. In an instant, Lor backhanded him across the sky, sending him tumbling end over end into his comrades.

"Why'd you do that?! Drex wailed.

"I will say what we will and will not do, I am in charge here and you will obey me!" Lor roared loudly.

All of the horde grew still and silent at his outburst. They'd never seen anything like this before. Drex flew over to hover behind Merc, rubbing his jaw where Lor had hit him and mumbling under his breath.

Lor turned away from them and ran his hands through his hair. He needed to think! And then he gave an evil chuckle. He turned back to the horde and pulled himself up to his full height while he addressed them.

"The Consulate have made the mistake of placing us within reach of their newest world where Adon and Alyss, the two oh-so-special beings that they have such great plans for, reside! We have all watched in the past as they multiplied over all of Lyra, developed it and filled it with wondrous inventions," Lor began to pace as he talked, "but for some unknown reason, they have chosen to bring us back to the time of their infancy, before they began to procreate." And then he sneered, "They even told me at one point that they wanted me to help in their _development_ , to help them to be all that they can be!" Here, Lor chuckled without humor once again. "Since the Consulate saw fit to put us here, we WILL do our utmost to help them, but we will help them become exactly like us! Then, we will destroy them all and undo the creation that the Consulate are so proud of!

The Lyran race will never realize the things they previously accomplished, we shall change their history! Let us go and pay Adon and Alyss a visit! Come, follow me!"

Lor streaked down through the atmosphere and the rest of the dark horde followed behind him. He burst through the fluffy white clouds and beheld Lyra, bright with color and alive with birds and animals of every kind.

He didn't stop to admire the view, but continued on until he touched down on the soft green grass waving in a flowered field. He began walking on the grass, but it did not bend beneath his feet. He walked up to a tree, leaned on the trunk and almost fell through. He was astonished and in a rage all at the same time.

"What trickery is this?!" He exclaimed as he examined his hands and body more closely. He looked at the horde and they were having similar problems interacting with the things around them.

"We are have become like the Klowdeans here, insubstantial as smoke!" Exclaimed Hari as he passed his hand through a tree trunk, then tried touching a flower.

"Only they can solidify themselves as they choose, while we cannot!" Merc complained as two huge, gray animals with large flapping ears came lumbering through their midst, trumpeting loudly as they passed; but they passed right through the dark horde, completely unaware of their presence.

Lor was spitting with uncontained rage. He wanted to obliterate something, to crush and destroy, but his punches were ineffectual. The horde scattered back out of his way as he threw lightning bolts at trees and animals alike, but his bolts passed through them and they remained unharmed and unaware of him and his tantrum which made him even more incredulous and angrier than ever before. "Do you see what they have done to us?! They will not get away with this!" He thundered.

Marsh chimed in and asked, "How will we talk to Adon if he cannot even hear or see us and how will we be able to get them on our side so we can destroy them?!"

"I don't know!!" Raged Lor. "The treachery of the Consulate knows no bounds! But I am Lor the Destroyer and I will find a way! Leave me alone, so I can _think_!"

The horde scattered further, each one going his own way. Some began to explore the new world, grousing at the beauty around them. Others stayed in the vicinity of Lor, waiting for him to come up with a course of action. Still others mimicked Lor and began trying to shoot lightning through trees, animals and even water; but nothing worked.

For a while, Lor was beside himself. He didn't know what to think about or concentrate on first. The Consulate was upper most in his mind, his anger at their deceit burned white hot; but there was nothing that he could do about that right now. He let out a roar of frustration which scared some of the horde that had stayed close by and made them move even further away; but he didn't care about them being scared. He wanted them to fear him, for he was afraid that if they did not fear him, they would not obey him and would try to usurp his authority.

He wished now that he had paid closer attention to Lyra the first time they were created, but he had been so engrossed with trying to convince the ethereal host to follow him, that he had not paid any more attention to Lyra than he had any other world in the universe. If he had only known that this is where he was going to end up, he would have given them his utmost attention, but now he would have to start from scratch.

After getting his frustration under control, Lor was able to concentrate more fully on a plan of action. He closed his eyes and thought back to when he had been general in Aeriel, how he had organized the Hosts of Etherael and they had done his bidding and of how he could use his skills and his new powers in this situation.

After a while, he flew up into the air and began to try mind-linking with the horde, hoping that it was still one of their capabilities. He could tell that he had been successful when he reached out and felt all of their minds respond to him. He called them all back together from wherever they had gone, and when everyone was assembled around him, he began speaking.

"Organize into 13 companies with a leader at your head. I will call the names of the ones I want to be general and then you will divide the horde evenly among you. Step forward when I call your name and don't dawdle!

Drex, Max, Merc, Loud, Hari, Pan, Shali, Pip, Marsh, Cort, Marion, Hoss and Bree! I am now your Consulate and you are generals. I don't ever want to have to speak to the horde again, I will only communicate with you!

Organize your troops and get ready to move, we are going to where Adon and Alyss live to see if we communicate with them. We are going to stay together for now, until I have a more definite idea of what we are going to do.

As you can now see, I was right in not trusting the Consulate! They have not even tried to live up to their end of the bargain in allowing us to be creators in our own right!"

At this statement of Lor's, heads could be seen nodding in agreement and murmurs of "that's right!" and "I knew it!", could be heard. "We're with you Lor!" Shouted Hari, "Yeah, we're all in this together!" Shouted Drex. More proclamations of support for Lor could be heard, until Lor raised his hand for quiet.

"We're going to show the Consulate that they shouldn't have done this to us and make them regret not keeping their end of the deal!"

"How are we going to do that?" Asked Merc.

Lor looked at him with narrowed eyes and clenched fists and said, "First, by hijacking the loyalty of their greatest creation and then," And here he smiled cruelly, "by destroying it!"

Then he turned back to the horde and pounding his fist into his hand said, "Don't ask me how we're going to do it, I don't know the answer to that yet, but we WILL do it, we will CRUSH any hopes the Consulate had of making THIS their crowning creation! But first, let's go see how intelligent the _king and queen_ really are and if we can communicate with them better than with the animals in this awful place!" Once again, he lifted his arm and with a shout said, "Dark Horde of Lor, follow me!"
**CHAPTER TEN**

General Gabriel floated beside Azazel and Charel in the pavilion with everyone else. They were all watching their friends with their former leader, Lor and the dark horde, as they floundered about on Lyra, looking so dark and forbidding. They listened to Lor's speech to the dark horde and wondered at the complete change that had been wrought in him.

"How did he change so fast and so completely from who he was to what he is now?" asked Charel, addressing no one in particular. "I know!" Said Draya, "I thought that he wanted to create, but now he is talking about destroying? What does that even mean?!" Her leaves had formed a frown of confusion.

"I think that question is one for the Consulate." General Gabriel replied. "They are so..., I do not even know the word to use." Azazel said, sounding very unsure and not quite able to put words to his feelings.

"The Consulate is in the throne room, should we go and speak with them?" Charel asked.

Puphf floated over to where they were, his billows whirling pink and blue, as the face he portrayed smiled widely. "This whole thing makes me feel excited! It is something new and different! Lor and the dark horde have embarked on a journey that could lead anywhere!" He said in his booming voice. "I wonder what will be the end result of it all? It could be most glorious!"

"Do you really think so Puphf?" Draya asked, as she whirled in place, her rustling voice sounding hopeful.

"Well I suppose that is the point of all this," Azazel said, "We do not know what the outcome will be, but I still think we should go and pay the Consulate a visit, to clear up any questions that we have."

"There is no need." The King's voice thundered from the center of the pavilion where the Consulate had appeared. Everyone's attention turned from what was happening on Lyra to the Consulate and questions from all over the pavilion were fired in their direction, the words overlapping each other.

"General Victorel held up his hand and silence immediately spread like a blanket over the pavilion. The only sounds that could be heard were the sounds coming from the VS and with a flick of his wrist, The King silenced that as well so that all they could see was the visual of Lor and the dark horde.

The King began to speak. "Lor and the dark horde are now what is called evil. They will show you, the universe, but specifically, the inhabitants of Lyra, exactly what evil is and what it means. Watch, listen and learn the natural consequences of opposing the Consulate, for this lesson will remain with you throughout all of eternity. I know that you have many questions now, but they will all be answered in full as these pages in time unfold.

Think with the minds that we have given you and use the considerable reasoning powers that you possess. Most of the questions that you have now, you will be able to answer for yourselves before the trial is over, but once it is past, we will answer any questions that remain.

You have chosen to remain with the Consulate, so put your trust in Us now and never doubt that all things that flow from the Consulate and all that we do is good and right and perfect."

With that speech, The King waved his hand again and the audio in the VS was restored as the universe continued to watch with rapt attention the happenings on Lyra.
**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

Lor flew to the home of Adon and Alyss with the Dark Horde behind him. If they could have been seen, they would have looked like a vast ink stain spreading across the sky, descending like a blanket over the Palace of Glitter. But they were invisible, so the sky was blue.

The palace was huge and could be seen from a great distance. It was set in the middle of a garden with trees that were taller than Adon many times over, that had graceful bowers laden with fruit of all kinds.

A river ran through the middle of it all, its silver streams splitting in four different directions to water each part of the garden around the palace and then flowing out of the garden into other parts of the world. The water of the rivers were so crystal clear you could see all the way down to their beds that were littered with precious stones, while its banks were threaded through with pure, soft gold.

From a distance, Lor could see Adon and Alyss walking in the garden talking to the Consulate. The minute he spotted them, the rest of the horde saw them too and shouts of, "The Consulates here!"

"Maybe they will get us out of this mess!"

"Let's get an explanation for their lies!" Could be heard.

Lor wasn't saying anything; he was heading straight to where the Consulate stood. He was going to bust up their happy family with a little dose of truth and he couldn't wait!

He was just about to fly over the tree line on the edge of the garden when he hit a barrier. Hard. The impact sent him and the rest of the Dark Horde, spinning backwards in the air, bowling right into each other. It was a very shocking blow to the entire horde.

Lor untangled himself from his comrades and then flew back to examine the barrier that had put such a decisive end to his plans. He poked at it and it simply stretched where it was poked and then went back to its original shape. He glared through it to where the Consulate stood, laughing and talking with Adon and Alyss.

Lor clenched his jaw and spoke quietly, yet menacingly. "I know you can see and hear me and we need to talk! This isn't over!" Even though Lor spoke quietly, he was so angry that he was still almost foaming at the mouth with rage. The rest of the horde were behind him, yelling obscenities and profanities at the Consulate through the barrier as well. The entire horde began crawling all over the barrier, trying to find a way in, trying to find some hole or weakness, but there was none.

They were there all day, watching as Adon and Alyss talked, ate, surfed, levitated and communed with the Consulate. He watched the Consulate do things with them that he had never seen them do with anyone. The jealousy in him blossomed until his hatred for Adon and Alyss knew no bounds.

When the sun started going down and the night birds began singing and the fireflies, looking for all the world like sprites, began flying around flashing their tiny lights in the night, the Consulate finally took their leave of Adon and Alyss, and the horde watched as the Consulate disappeared.

Adon slung his arm around Alyss' shoulders and pulled her close, nuzzling up to her neck and whispering something in her ear that made her laugh. She nodded at him and they took off hand in hand towards the sea, splashing in the white foam that was lit up by the bright moon.

Lor had calmed down to a simmer long ago, but he never took his eyes off of the happy pair. The night wore on and the two went into the palace for the rest of the night, but then in the morning as the first rays of sunlight were coming over the hill, they came forth.

Lor had spent the night thinking, watching and planning. He had seen beasts and fowl of every kind go in and out of the dome, so he knew that it was not impenetrable.

The horde covered the dome, some lounging, some sitting in clusters talking boisterously, some watching Adon and Alyss as they began their day. Every now and then, a fight would break out that the generals would hurry to squash, but Lor had ignored it all as he carefully plotted.

Now, he mind-linked with his generals, telling them to organize their lieutenants and troops to explore the planet thoroughly; they were to experiment with the wildlife to see if any interaction were possible and then report back to the dome when the sun was directly overhead in the sky. A flurry of activity began as the generals carried out his orders. Soon, the horde had dispersed, leaving Lor alone at the top of the dome.

He watched as Adon and Alyss mounted two gigantic beasts with wings. One was silver and the other gold, and they glistened in the sun like the brightest jewels and appeared to communicate with them.

Lor noted that Alyss favored the gold one and Adon the silver. He watched as Alyss fed it fruit and stroked its nose, as if it were a pet. They actually treated all of the animals like their personal pets, but there was a special bond that Adon and Alyss had with these two beasts that seemed stronger than what they had with the other animals.

Adon and Alyss mounted the glistening animals and flew out of the dome, much to Lor's delight and he flew after them, eager to have a chance to try to communicate with them. He flew beside them, taking in the breath- taking vistas and fertile green valleys. They flew through the spray of a waterfall, Alyss laughing and shaking her hair in the droplets. They landed and got off the beasts, letting them go to roam where they would. Adon took Alyss' hand and together, they dove into the clear water.

From the shore, Lor could follow their bright auras under the water and he watched as they swam behind the waterfall to a cave.

He decided to follow, hoping to get a chance to speak to them. When he arrived at the cave, he walked up to them and began speaking, but they took no notice of him. He waved his hand in front of their faces and talked louder, but it was all to no avail. Growing frustrated, he let out a tremendous roar and lightning bolts flew from his fingertips, but the aura that surrounded them simply absorbed the bolts and they remained completely oblivious to his presence.

Lor paced while Adon and Alyss snuggled up together and talked quietly about their surroundings and their plans for Lyra. As he paced, he listened and after a while, the conversation took a turn that interested Lor immensely.

"Why do you think the Consulate told us not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden?" Alyss asked, but before Adon could reply she went on, "Any of the animals that can reach or climb that high, and all of the birds eat fruit from it and nothing ever happens to them; they don't 'die', whatever that means."

Adon took her hand in his, turned it over and kissed her palm. He continued to hold her hand as he talked, "I don't know why the Consulate told us not to eat from that tree, but does it really matter? We have the whole world to explore, thousands of trees to eat fruit and nuts from, we don't need that one tree; besides," And here Adon kissed her ear and down her neck to her shoulder, "We have plenty of other more interesting things to keep us occupied."

He continued to kiss down her body, but Lor couldn't see anything because their auras obscured his vision. He left them to themselves and flew back to the dome, his mind full of possibilities.

When he got there, he was kept busy for the rest of the day, wading through oral reports and deciding what was important and what wasn't.

In the afternoon as the sun was beginning to go down, Lor saw Adon and Alyss returning home. Their mounts dropped them off in the garden and then flapping their enormous wings, flew up towards the rolling hills where Lor assumed they lived.

The next day, after dispatching the troops for another day of exploration and discovery, Lor flew up towards the gentle hills covered with soft green grass and a rainbow of wildflowers. He finally spotted Adon and Alyss' mounts, and watching and listening to them, he assimilated their language, hoping it would facilitate communication if he ever found a way to make himself heard.

Again, he followed them back to the dome as they picked up Adon and Alyss for another day out. This time, they went to the sea and spent all day in the water, playing with the fish there and teaching the more intelligent ones tricks.

With their auras surrounding them, they could stay underwater indefinitely, diving deeply to the very bottom of the sea. Lor knew from past experience that Adon could communicate with even the sea creatures of Lyra and felt another pang of jealousy.

By and by, during the course of his spy mission, Lor collided with Alyss' golden mount as he was flying through the air. The little time that he was inside him, he heard his thoughts and wondered if perhaps this was not a way for him to communicate with the creature. As he continued to follow them around, he began to develop an idea for an experiment of his own.

The next day, while it was still dark out, just before the sun began to lighten the sky, Lor flew up to the hills where the creatures lived and slept. The golden one was just leaving his cave and without hesitation, Lor flew right into him; and out the other side. He tried again, this time, using less force and endeavoring to stay inside the moving creature. On the 3rd try, he was successful and he found that when inside the creature, he could link to its mind and speak with it.

"Who are you?" The creature asked, as it flew past a fruit tree, snagging a piece in its long sharp claws and then settling in the tree to enjoy its treat and to bask in the rays of the rising sun.

"I am Lor, what are you called?"

"I am called Dragon," the creature replied between dainty bites.

"Dragon, would you help me speak to your master Adon?"

The dragon flexed its golden wings, the scales on its body rippling like polished jewels in the sunlight. "Why would you need my help to speak to Adon, he will be most willing to talk to you directly." The dragon replied.

"I'm sure he would, if he could see or hear me, but I am having difficulty in that department."

"Yes, I see what you mean." said the dragon. "So, will you help me?" asked Lor, "I would only like to speak with him and the lovely Alyss."

"She is quite beautiful isn't she?" The dragon mused. "So, how do you want to do this?" he asked.

"I would like to use your voice, if I may." Said Lor.

"You may use my voice if you wish," replied the dragon. Would you like to go now?"

"Thank you!" Said Lor, "You are most kind, but no, I will not go now, I will return later this week after I let others of my kind know that you are willing to help."

The dragon picked more fruit and ate it delicately. "Come back whenever you wish and we will go to the garden to visit Master Adon."

Lor disconnected from the creatures mind and then flew away, back down towards the dome covered garden.

At noon, he watched the dark horde fly back to the dome and cover it like a blanket. His generals lined up and he mind-linked to them for their reports. They had already found that they could inhabit the animals and trees, but most of the animals really had no language and so communication was not possible.

The horde continued to watch and found that if they put their ear right up against the dome, they could listen as well. Lor mulled over what he wanted to say to them and wondered if they would even believe him about the Consulate. He thought it would be better to approach Alyss, since she was already questioning the Consulate's rules.

One day, Merc and Drex came flying over to him with looks of excitement on their faces.

"What is it?" He questioned.

"We just heard that the Consulate gave Adon and Alyss one rule!" Lor remained silent, only arching his eyebrow at them.

"They can't eat of the biggest fruit tree in the middle of the garden, you know, the one with the gold and silver fruit?"

Lor remained silent.

"Yeah, we heard them talking," Said Drex, "And that's the only rule the Consulate has given them! They can eat of every tree in the garden except for that one!"

Drex and Merc were practically hopping they were so excited to have this news. Lor continued to glare at them without saying a word, so they continued without any prompting from him.

"Do you know what will happen if they DO eat the fruit?" Merc asked.

At that moment, Hoss came zooming up to them shouting, "THEY WILL DIE! THEY WILL DIE!"

Merc backhanded Hoss as soon as he got within reach. "Shut up Hoss! I was gonna tell Lor that part!"

Lor zapped Merc with a bolt of lightning and he landed over next to Hoss. "You will never call me Lor, I am the _Most High_ Lor! And as for your _news_ , he sneered at them, I already knew that!"

Drex scuttled over to where Merc and Hoss were getting up, dusting themselves off and casting furtive glances in Lor's direction, but Lor was flying away from the dome, up into the mountains.

Arriving at the Dragon's cave, he landed and went in. The cave looked like it had been carved from one giant crystal. There were two dragons, one gold and the other silver, lying under a hole in the roof where the sun beamed down on them. They couldn't see or hear him of course, so Lor strode up to the golden dragon and walked straight into him. Instantly, he linked to his mind and the dragon's head came up from where it had been resting on the ground.

"Oh, hello again." the dragon said.

"What is it dear?" the silver dragon asked her mate when he lifted his head up.

"That visitor is back, you know the one I told you about that was in my head the other day?"

"Oh yes! How nice. Are you going to take him to Master Adon now?" She inquired.

"I don't know, let me ask him," said the golden dragon.

Lor did not wait for him to form the question as he had already heard what he was going to ask and did not really want to be bothered with answering, so he quickly asked a question of his own. "Can you tell me about the one rule that the Consulate gave to Adon and Alyss?" He asked, hoping to glean more information than he already had, by asking the question directly.

"Oh yes, the dragon replied. "They told them that if they ever eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that they would die. It's all very exciting you know!"

Lor nodded to himself. He didn't have to ask any questions about death, he understood it now as if he had been born to understand it. Death was his mantra, his mission and he couldn't wait to deal some out on the inhabitants of Lyra.

"Can we go speak with Master Adon now?" He asked.

"Surely", the dragon replied. "I am taking our visitor to speak with Master Adon," the dragon told his wife.

"Oh, that's lovely dear, bring back stories, you know how I love stories!"

The golden dragon lifted into the air without any warning and Lor was left standing in the cave. He hurriedly shot after him, melding with him in mid- flight. He was getting better at staying in the body of the dragon while it was moving. Excitement ran through his being as they approached the dome that arced over the garden. He saw his minions covering the dome, watching as the dragon flew by, not knowing that their leader was on board.

As they approached the dome, Lor braced himself for impact, but there was none. They flew straight through and Lor allowed a sly smile to cross his face as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation of actually speaking to Adon and Alyss.

"Go to the tree that they cannot eat of." Lor instructed the dragon. The dragon veered towards the center of the garden and approached the towering twin trees in the middle of it.

The one the dragon perched in was easily the most beautiful tree that Lor had ever seen. The fruit was gold and silver and peeked out from between the leaves, twinkling in the sunlight. The trunk of the tree was brown, but it shimmered slightly in the sun. The leaves of the tree were different shades of green and yellow and they too glistened in the light. The tree next to it was just as big, but in contrast, looked quite plain. The only thing special about this tree was that it bore more than one kind of fruit. Otherwise, it looked like the middle of the garden was the wrong place for it.

The Dragon perched in the tree and began delicately picking the silver and gold fruit up between his claws and eating it daintily in small bites. "So, it's okay for you to eat the fruit of this tree, just not Adon and Alyss?" Lor asked his host.

"You are correct!" The Dragon answered. "I really don't understand why they cannot eat the fruit, it is most delicious!"

Just at that moment, Alyss came by and Lor spoke to the dragon quickly, "Allow me to use your voice to speak to Alyss, if you don't mind?"

"As you wish." The Dragon replied. "The Dragon continued to eat the fruit while Lor thought fast. If he simply said hello to her, she might not answer him, but if he asked her a question....He switched from the Dragon's language to his normal language, "Did the Consulate say, you cannot eat of every tree of the garden?"

The lovely creature, for truly she was lovelier than Lor remembered her to be, turned towards the tree and looked up into its branches at the Dragon who sat there, eating the fruit, her face full of wonder that her Dragon could speak her language now.

"We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, (her voice was so melodious and sweet, but strong at the same time), but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, the Consulate said, we may not eat of it or touch it, or we will die."

Lor thought that she might be suspicious of him, but of course she thought she was talking to her Dragon, so why should she be suspicious. Then he remembered his days of innocence and realized that she would not be suspicious or even know what that was. He could lie to her and she would not even realize that it wasn't the truth because she knew nothing about lies; so Lor said through the Dragon,

"You won't really die!" Then he thought that was a little blatant and she _might_ see through it, so he quickly added some truth, "The Consulate knows that the very day you eat the fruit of this tree, then your mind will be opened and you will be just like the Consulate because you will understand good and evil!"

When he said those words, Alyss' face lit up and after only a few seconds thought, she reached out to pick some of the fruit that the Dragon was eating. She looked at it and smelled it and the aroma of it made her smile. Then she took a huge bite and an expression of wonder and delight came across her face. Lor kept watching for something else to happen, but nothing did.

Alyss looked like she was waiting for something else to happen also, but she looked and felt the same as she did before she ate the fruit. She reached out and took some more as she glanced over her shoulder to see where Adon was.

He was coming towards her at a fast pace and he was not smiling as usual, but his eyes were wide and his mouth was open in horror. "Alyss! What are you doing?!"

Alyss ran up to meet him, holding the forbidden fruit out in front of her. She pointed back to the tree as she spoke. "Dragon told me that this fruit would make us like the Consulate, gods with powers! That's why they didn't want us to eat it, don't you see! Dragon is eating it and he can speak our language now!"

She was smiling up at Adon, her eyes bright with new knowledge, but Adon was not sharing her joy. He grabbed her and held her close to him, the fruit still in her hands, stuck between their bodies. Lor watched closely; Adon looked fierce as if he were going to fight someone and Lor could tell he was struggling with what to do. Lor stared at the two of them, willing with all of his being for Adon to join his mate and eat the fruit. He hoped that Adon's love for Alyss was strong enough to make him join her and go against the Consulate.

Adon wasn't selfish yet, so his thoughts were not for himself, they were for his mate. He would not allow her to go through whatever it was she was about to go through alone. He would join her and be by her side all the way. Till death, he thought.

Suddenly, Adon's face cleared, as if he'd come to a decision, and in the next second, he had snatched the fruit out of Alyss' hand, taken a bite and swallowed. He hugged her again, shuddering, not knowing what to expect, and as they stood there together, the aura of light that surrounded them began to fade until it was gone, and Lor could clearly see their naked forms.

Lor exulted as he watched through the eyes of the dragon. Adon and Alyss didn't look quite so majestic without their auras of light, they looked rather vulnerable.

Lor knew how it felt to have your light taken from you, you changed completely and instantly from feeling one way, to feeling the opposite way. He thought back to that last day in the pavilion when the lightning from the Consulate had reached out and taken the light out of them. He had gone from loving adoration to hate and resentment in mere seconds. He had died to the Consulate, died to love, compassion and understanding. He had become pure evil, and now, they and all of their lovely seeds were just like him! Just like _him_ and NOT like the Consulate! That was a wonderful thought!

Lor continued to watch Adon and Alyss closely. He wanted to watch them both become like the dead chair he remembered, stiff and cold. If that happened, then the entire race that was inside Adon right at this very moment, would die right along with him.

"Let's get in the bushes." Adon suggested to his mate. She looked down at herself and quickly agreed. They hurried over to a thick stand of heather and hid in the leaves. They peeped out and Lor could hear their hearts beating out a fast rhythm.

"Why did you eat that fruit?!" Adon asked her.

"Dragon said it was going to make us wise, like gods!" Alyss replied. "Don't you remember what the Consulate said?" Adon asked in exasperation. "They said..."

"I know, I know, that we would die! But Dragon said that we would NOT die!"

"So you believed the dragon over the Consulate?!" Adon was incredulous.

"It said that the Consulate didn't want us to know about becoming like gods, that they were withholding something good from us! I have come by this tree often and have seen the birds and other fowl eating this fruit and nothing ever happens to them! Don't you see? Dragon could talk to me, he could speak our language! Isn't that proof? And now that we've actually eaten the fruit..."

"We no longer have our aura of light! We're naked!" Adon yelled at her. He stopped and took a deep breath, trying to rein in his fear and frustration.

"But we're still here!" Said Alyss, "Nothing else has happened to us, except you're acting like a....I don't know, not nice!" She frowned and folded her arms, turning her back to Adon. He rolled his eyes and turned his back to her. They were both silent for a while until suddenly a voice called to them.

"Adon! Alyss! Where are you?" Alyss turned to Adon, her face pale with fear. "It's the Consulate! Maybe they will help us!"

Lor laughed out loud and both Adon and Alyss turned to stare at the Dragon. Lor quieted, but continued to shake with laughter. The Consulate would not help them, they would get kicked off their beautiful world and have to become allies with him; unless there was more to this death thing than he realized. "He saw the Consulate come up and they called to Adon and Alyss once again.

"We're here, hiding in these bushes!" said Adon.

"Why are you hiding?" The King asked, as they approached their location. The Consulate came and stood right outside the stand of trees that they were cowering in.

"We are hiding because something happened to our aura of light and now we're naked."

"Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the forbidden tree?" General Victorel asked.

Adon spoke up quickly and pointed to Alyss, " _She_ made me eat it!"

General Victorel turned to Alyss and asked, "What have you done?"

She pointed quickly to the golden dragon still in the tree. "He was eating it and told me that it would be okay if I ate it too! He said it would make me wise, as wise as you General Victorel, as wise as the Consulate!"

The King turned to the golden dragon that was still in the tree, watching the proceedings with avid interest.

Lor cringed within him, knowing that The King knew he was there, feeling his eyes on him even as he spoke to the dragon.

"Because you have done this dragon, you are now cursed and are no longer above all beasts, but will be below them! You will slither on your belly instead of flying, you will have no voice to speak and you will eat meat instead of the goodly fruit all the days of your life!"

At this proclamation, Lor felt the walls of the dragon begin to constrict around him and before he knew it, he was no longer inside the dragon, but watched as the dragon's wings, legs and feet, shriveled and faded to nothing. It could only hold onto the tree by wrapping its body around a branch. But the Consulate was not finished, and looking directly at Lor they continued, "Instead of being allies, there will now be hatred between you, Adon, Alyss and all of their descendants!"

Lor knew that Adon and Alyss still could not see him and thought the Consulate was still talking to the dragon, but he knew that they were speaking directly to him and it made him feel cold, as if they were pronouncing a curse on him.

They continued talking to Adon and Alyss, but Lor flew up in the air, bracing himself for a crash against the dome, but none came. He burst through to where the horde waited for him, already celebrating and dancing around in glee. They had heard the entire conversation between him and Alyss and had watched the drama play out as first Alyss, then Adon ate the forbidden fruit. They weren't aware that he was even there until the dragon had shriveled down to almost nothing, but then they had seen their leader emerge from the dragon's body and shouts of victory could be heard from the great, dark horde. They surrounded him now, pounding him on the back, everyone laughing and talking at once, their questions overlapping as he basked in their praise. He quieted them down, for the Consulate was still talking to Adon and Alyss and he wanted to know what was going on.

Suddenly, the entire horde gasped as lightning shot forth from The King and two white, wooly lambkins that were standing there instantly fell to the ground. General Victorel then stooped down and touched the animals and when he stood back up, he had only their outer skins in his hands. Fire shot from The King and the skinless carcasses disappeared. The skins in General Victorel's hands, he threw at Adon and Alyss and instead of standing there naked, they were suddenly clothed with the skin from the animals.

General Victorel waved his hand and Adon and Alyss were instantly transported outside the garden gates which closed with a clang, and Charel stood there in blinding glory with a blazing sword in his hand. The horde gasped again, for Charel seemed so much bigger and brighter in contrast to them.

Then what they had been asking for, hoping for, but now feared, actually happened. The Consulate appeared in front of them, hovering in the air slightly above them.

"Lor the Destroyer!" Lor came and stood before the Consulate, but he would not bow to them for he hated them and even though he no longer wanted to go to Aeriel, for he hated that bright place too, it gave him something to rail at them about.

The Consulate began, "Since you have succeeded in causing Adon and Alyss to disobey me, you now have dominion over this planet!"

But Lor didn't care about that, he spoke up in anger, "Why did you lie to us? Why did we get kicked out of Aeriel? Why do we still not have the power to create?! And why are we invisible to them? What good does it do for me to have dominion over Lyra if I cannot touch or affect anything around me? Why..."

Here, General Victorel held up his hand for silence and Lor had no choice but to stop talking.

The King spoke, "The Consulate cannot lie. We did not explain everything to you back on Aeriel because you would not have understood, but you can understand now, because you are evil. You could not stay in Aeriel because you had become evil and you would have been bored and miserable in that perfect place, for evil loves darkness and thrives on trouble and drama. Even now, I can see within you that if we said that you could come back to Aeriel, you would not, for you hate it as much as you hate us.

Adon and thus all of Lyra, have gone against the Consulate, so they have joined you in becoming evil and will no longer be immune to you and your suggestions, but I have placed something within them and their future offspring that hates evil, so that they will not ever be completely yours.

For now, you are the ruler of Lyra and you may do whatever you can with it, but we want Lyra back and we will give you whatever you ask in exchange for this world."

Lor looked at them incredulously, "You would bow to my demands? Give me anything I want in exchange for Lyra?!" He reiterated, just to make sure he had heard them right.

General Victorel nodded.

Lor did not have to think at all about what he wanted, "I WANT YOU TO DIE!!!" he roared, "That is the only thing that will make up for what you have done to me, to us! Do I get my wish granted, or have you lied to me once again?!"

General Victorel answered him immediately, "It shall be as you wish, but once it is done, Lyra will be ours again, and you will have no more rights to it or any of its inhabitants, past, present or future."

"If you die, then it won't matter, _will it_?!" Lor replied.

The King spoke and said, "Do what you will, you have but a short time and then it will be over."

At the end of this speech, the Consulate faded away leaving Lor and his cohorts hovering over the dark and empty palace and garden grounds. Lor did not revel in his victory because for him, he would not be victorious until every single living thing in the universe was dead.
**CHAPTER TWELVE**

A few hundred years went by, and back on Aeriel, things never quite settled down and got back to how they used to be before Lor's defection.

As things continued to unfold on Lyra, there arose several differences of opinion about the things that happened there and how they should be interpreted. There were many, that even though they did not initially choose to side with Lor, still wanted him to succeed in whatever he endeavored to accomplish and these rooted him and the dark horde on. Others stayed staunchly on the side of the Consulate, while there were some who did not pick a side at all, but instead chose to see the outcome to the end before they agreed with one side or the other.

Draya was one of those who was a Consulate supporter and she lamented when she saw Adon and Alyss fall to the tricks of Lor. "They did not have a chance!" she said, "They are on Lor's side now and they will be as evil as he is!"

"How do you know that is not a good thing?" Asked Puphf in his booming voice, who had not picked a side, but loved to debate any issue, as he changed himself to a light shade of blue and shifted into a seated position in the air, "Evil is the opposite of good, but I have not really seen any evidence that it is not preferable to good. Lor and the dark horde seem to be enjoying themselves, doing new things that we would never even think to do. How do you know that they are not living a better existence than we are?"

"I was actually thinking the same thing!" Lancing replied in clipped tones as he flexed his wings and ruffled his feathers.

"But how can you think that they are having fun?" Azazel asked in amazement, "They do not look happy!"

"Maybe what they are experiencing is better than happy." Replied Puphf.

"You remember what the Lyrans were like before the Consulate turned back time?" Asked Azazel," Everyone nodded, so he continued, "We can just compare the before and after to see if things turn out better or worse. Look at them right now," He pointed to the VS, "The inventions they have come up with have already shown how innovative and clever they are when it comes to something they want or need."

General Gabriel nodded in agreement, "Yes, the first time Lyra was created, they could flash to wherever they wanted to go in an instant and the ability was innate. Even though they have lost that ability this time around, they have built what they call transporters to fulfill the exact same function!"

Draya nodded in excitement, "That is true, they came up with their Hover Air Craft for the same reason, out of necessity. Where the transporter does not reach, the HAC will get them there a lot faster than walking or riding one of their horses!"

"Well, that is some of the good things that they are doing" Azazel interjected, "But I do not like that hardly no one worships or even knows the Consulate! I mean, it is senseless that they are worshipping images made out of dead metal and burning their offspring up in them! I think that is just an awful thing to do!"

"Let us keep watching to see how the quality of their lives is affected by them turning evil. I for one am most interested to see the outcome," Said General Gabriel. They all agreed as they turned back to the VS to watch events continue to unfold.
**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

After the fall of Adon and Alyss, when the world of Lyra was young and new and Lyrans were fresh from the hand of their creator, the average life span for natural death was over 900 years. The intelligence of the Lyrans was enormous, and the two coupled together, the long lifespan plus the vast intelligence, spawned technologies, inventions, creations and artistry that went beyond anything that Lyrans of later years had the capacity to do.

The Nephilim were the ruling class and led the field in science and genetic manipulation, while the Lyran's efforts were concentrated on technological advances and art. The command to be fruitful and multiply was obeyed with surprising swiftness and Lyra was soon covered with civilizations that spanned the globe.

The world was made smaller by the use of mass and personal transporters that could take a person or a group of people, from one location to another with just the touch of a button.

Hover Auto Craft, or HAC's with no fuel needs and no emissions, traveled on broad, smooth, magnetic roads.

The Com-Net was world-wide and allowed its user to communicate via the Global Network, to anyone across the world, with auditory and visual applications.

Cities were a place of wonder. The architecture was graceful with tall, thin spires that arched into the heavens. It was a grand and glorious age.

Lor the destroyer was obsessed with causing the death of Lyra and its inhabitants to such a degree that it was all he could think of; it was all he wanted. If he could have, he would have simply blasted them all out of existence with lightning from his hands, but he was still unable to physically interact with them. He did, however, find them a willing conduit for his thoughts and wishes. His suggestions to them they misconstrued as their own and acted on his whims most willingly, thinking that they were fulfilling their own desires. In this way, Lor became an expert on getting them to destroy each other. The seeds of hatred, greed, self-loathing and violence, that already resided within them, he caused to grow out of control until their thoughts were only evil continually.

Being able to create something to love and worship him was no longer a factor in Lor's thinking, although he found that it was a side effect that he found desirable. He realized that Lyrans were created with the need to worship something or someone and as long as they were worshipping him, one of his creations or themselves, they weren't worshipping the Consulate and that was really all Lor wanted to do, separate them from the Consulate so that he could make them destroy themselves.

He was determined to see the whole of the Consulate's creations completely obliterated and to this end he bent his considerable intelligence, using everything at his disposal.

He would start with this world and then he hoped that the death of the Consulate would be a catalyst for the death of the entire universe.

Even though he, along with the dark horde, could inhabit a Lyran and make them do their bidding, the Lyrans were still to a large extent, protected by the Consulate and so he was constantly at war with the Advisor within the Lyran's mind.

Sometimes he struggled to bend them to his will and a few times he would utterly fail and they would reject him completely. The Lyrans that truly believed in the Consulate, he could not inhabit at all, but could only whisper suggestions to them from afar, which was usually an exercise in futility since they largely ignored them all.

One of his major tools became the Nephilim, the powerful creatures he had created by infusing his essence into a human male, then mating the male with a Lyran female. They made formidable weapons that were completely controlled by him, highly intelligent and infused with some of his powers. Even though they were his servants, doing his bidding, the fact that they were part Lyran made him hate them just as much as he hated everyone else; yet hating them did not stop him from using them and he implanted his own desire deep within them to destroy the world. Here is where our story continues.
**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

Tobias stood at the edge of the crowd that had gathered to hear the preacher. His face was hidden in the cowl of his cloak, as his ComNet unit captured images of the Preacher, sending them back to the Conference room at Mount Olympia.

The rumors had not done justice to the man or his message; he was a tall, powerfully built, rather handsome man of indeterminate age that spoke fervently, with a conviction and passion that was lacking in his contemporaries.

Tobias turned from the crowd and strode away; he had heard enough. Pushing his way through the throngs of people that clogged the broad, pristine avenues of Gilden on their way to hear the preacher, he spoke tersely into the tiny ComNet unit attached to his wrist. "On my way."

He almost collided with a HAC that had zoomed up to the edges of the multitude, but he avoided it with relative ease, then quickly made his way through the city and out of the nearest gate.

As he entered the Sehoyan forest, he began to change from an ordinary Lyran into something more. The name whispered among the commoners was Nephilim, with the prevailing belief that these creatures were born of fallen Etherael and Lyran females.

Tobias strode through the forest and his cloak disappeared from off his shoulders as he grew in height until his head was almost level with the treetops. Shedding the last of his disguise, he ran with lightning speed to the base of Mount Olympia which lay to the west, 1500 miles from Gilden. Tobias shunned the use of transporters, preferring to flash, one of the abilities given to them by Lor. The other Nephilim who lived on Olympia were waiting for him to return so that they could begin the council meeting.

Tobias stopped at the base of Mount Olympia and flicked his hand at the solid rock; it opened up to reveal a platform that Tobias stepped onto. With another wave of his hand, he was enclosed within the mountain and was speeding his way to the top, some 1500 feet into the air. Upon reaching his destination, the glass doors automatically slid open to reveal a large conference room with all four walls made of clear glass from floor to ceiling.

From this vantage point, Lenora, goddess of sensuality, Pan god of lust, Nim god of mischief, and Hera goddess of beauty seated at the conference table with Z the god of power at its head, could see all of Lyra. They sat awaiting his return.

Tobias went directly to the empty seat to the right of Z.

Hera was sitting back, smirking at him with her arms folded. It had been the faeries, her spies, which were Hera's own special amalgamation of Lyran and firefly DNA, that had brought the initial report back that the preacher knew of their plans and was telling anyone who would listen and Tobias had doubted its accuracy because the preacher had not been seen on any of the news feeds from the ComNet service.

Now he spoke stiffly, "As you saw from the images I sent from Gilden, the preacher knows and he _is_ trying to save Lyra. I think he is very convincing and we need a contingency plan to stop him."

Nim, shook his head as he stroked the catmonk that was curled up, purring in his arms. "He is protected by the Consulate, we can't touch him, you know that!"

Tobias took his seat, picked up his plate and began filling it from the bounty on the table. "We don't need to touch him or do anything at all to him. The populace is on our side; they hate the Consulate, so all we have to do is convince them that the Preacher is crazy."

Lenora leaned forward, ready to poke holes in his theory as was her wont to do. "You've seen and heard him Tobias, anyone can tell from a glance that he is not crazy."

Pan picked up Tobias' cause, "Have you forgotten sweet child," He said in dulcet tones, "that we hold complete sway over the population? This Preacher can shout it to the heavens and no one's going to listen if we don't let them." He smiled without humor.

Lenora spoke up again, "That may be true, but aren't we trying to wipe out all of Lyra? If even two of them survive, our plan is ruined. That's all they need to procreate and start the whole thing all over again!" She was looking around the table very earnestly at them all. "We have to make sure this preacher and his mate die and soon!"

Nim spoke up then, "There's also the problem of his family. He's got three sons and two of them are already mated. We know they believe him because they're helping to build their escape device, so we need a way to stop the whole clan!"

Everyone but Lenora had begun to nod as Nim was talking and then she said, "Have you forgotten that _they are protected_?! We can do nothing against them!"

"I don't think we'll have to," answered Tobias around a mouthful of food.

"What did you have in mind?" Asked Z.

Tobias leaned forward placing his elbows on the table, looking earnestly from face to face.

"We have control of the populace, as you said, so all we have to do is let them do our job for us. Right now, everyone is listening to this guy with rapt attention, some even believing what he's saying. All we need to do is go ahead and turn them against him now. Let's not wait until we're almost ready to implement our plan, that's going to take a few more years anyway."

"But so what if we turn the populace against him? What is that going to accomplish?" Lenora asked.

Tobias chuckled darkly, "Haven't you seen what these stupid Lyrans do when they're the only ones who believe something and NO ONE else does?"

Pan answered him immediately, "They begin to doubt themselves and eventually stop believing as well."

Tobias nodded and pointed to Pan in triumph, "Exactly! Look, we're not dealing with very bright beings here! These Lyrans are lambkins, they follow each other no matter where they're being led. If Lor sends out the dark horde to steer them all in the direction we want them to go," Tobias sat back and put his hands behind his head, "Then it will be no problem, we'll have them ALL in the bag!

But even if that doesn't work, I believe that my new machine will be powerful enough to destroy the escape pod and anyone that decides to get in it!" Everyone nodded and seemed to agree, so Z took the opportunity to segue into his next question.

"Speaking of the new machine Tobias, how is it progressing?"

Tobias steepled his fingers as he answered, "Things are advancing at a marvelous pace, but this is something that has never been done before and there are several applications that the problems need to be worked out of."

Pan looked up in interest from his dessert. "Are you going to be running any more experiments anytime soon? If so, I'd really like to watch! That last one you did with the wind funnel was amazing, I've never seen anything like it!"

Hera rolled her eyes as she got up from the table. "Pan, I can whip up a little wind with just a flick of my wrist if that's what gets you going!" Then she leaned back over the table to talk directly to Tobias and said, "But what I'd really like to do is get some of my space in the lab back so that I can continue with the DNA experiments that I had going before Tobias came with his new project!"

Tobias looked her in the eye as he calmly replied, "When I get through with my machine, DNA is not going to matter! All of the inhabitants of this world will be wiped out completely!" He smiled a crooked smile at her, but his eyes held cruelty.

Hera shook her head at him and then replied, "You are so single-minded it makes you dumb! Once we wipe Lyra clean, DNA is ALL that is going to matter! We'll have to repopulate it with something and the creatures that I plan to create and that will worship us will need to be both beautiful and intelligent; for that, I need lab space!" She rolled her eyes again as she stalked to the door, which slid open automatically for her as she walked out.

"As much as I hate to admit it," Nim replied, "Hera's got a point. I mean, we kidnapped those two Lyran children, our own little 'Adon and Alyss', just for the express purpose of using their DNA in case we can't seem to come up with the power to create on our own. We do need some space in the lab for that Tobias."

"Not to mention," chimed in Pan, "Hera's going to take some space soon if you don't give it to her." He looked at Tobias in a meaningful way and then everybody laughed.

Their moment of levity broke the meeting up and it degenerated into sidebars and more eating while several nephilim got up to leave.

Tobias took the lift down to the lab that ran the full length of all of Olympia. The walls of the lab held compartments with various environments. Some were aquatic with strange sea creatures inside. Others had trees that housed flying reptiles, while some looked empty, except they weren't, you just could not see their occupants. Some compartments were empty and dark, for their occupants had been set loose upon Lyra to go on to later form the Kingdoms of Agua and Kalendor.

Tobias was not interested in any of that, he went straight to his pet project, the machine that he was building. It was a complicated piece of equipment, with knobs, dials and lights all over it. It was a monstrously huge thing that had truly taken over the laboratory so that the other lab tables that contained Hera's DNA experiments had been pushed to one side.

Tobias placed his palm against a lighted blue panel on the side of the machine and a view screen lit up with the digital face of a beautiful woman on it. She spoke to him in a computerized voice that somehow managed to still be sultry. "Welcome Tobias, what would you like to do today?"

Tobias began typing on the keyboard that was below the screen and speaking in crisp, clear tones at the same time.

"Check the ionospheric pressure in the stratosphere and adjust the wattage on all 360 antennas on the skyvox that we launched into space last week."

He reached over and flipped a switch on the front of the panel that began to glow green, then he continued to speak to the machine. "Connect the magnetosphere to the skyvox so we can see if that will shake the tectonic plates on Lyra and cause some instability in its crust."

Just then, Tobias heard the lab door slide open and Hera and Nim walked in. Nim had his catmonk perched on his shoulder, its tail curled around his neck; it meowed at Tobias loudly as Nim looked around appreciatively and Hera looked on with an air of disdain.

"I know I haven't been down here in a while," Nim said, "but you sure have been busy since I was last here! I guess this is the famous machine everyone's been going on about?" He walked around it, taking in all of its shiny surfaces, buttons and lights, and listening to the clicks and whirs it made as it processed whatever information Tobias was feeding it.

Hera preferred to stand by the door, but Tobias had a feeling that she was a lot more interested than she let on. He decided to give them a little preview, for Nim because he liked the praise he would heap upon him, and for Hera just to shut her up and hold her off for a while. He had all but mastered the wind application of the machine, so he proceeded with his commands.

"Give me 300 gigawatts of power to the stratospheric antennae and route it to the plain of Shinar!" He instructed the machine crisply as he typed in the precise coordinates. The machine responded quickly and immediately as lights flashed and beeps issued from within its core.

"Watch!" Tobias commanded tersely as he flipped a switch on a CNS that was mounted on the wall and connected to the machine. A peaceful scene came up in the valley of Shinar that showed the part of the plain that had the river flowing through it. A herd of cattle grazed there and Tobias toggled a switch and zoomed in on them. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen and then the grass in the field began waving to and fro and the cattle became agitated and began moving about.

The man that was out in the field watching them began trying to get them under control, when suddenly out on the water, where before it had been still as glass, waves began to form. A funnel of wind formed over the river and reached down into it, forming a waterspout that writhed across the water.

The man had frozen in his tracks for several seconds, looking on in amazement and fear, but then he came to life and began shouting instructions to the cattle, trying to get them to move in the direction of home; but the cattle were so frightened of the phenomena manifesting over the river, that they began to stampede and crushed the man to death under their hooves.

Tobias smiled at the success of his demonstration and Nim began to laugh as they watched the gruesome scene.

Hera couldn't hold back a tiny smile, but her arms remained folded and once Tobias had flipped the switch to turn the machine off, he turned to them and she began a slow, sarcastic clap. "Very nice, Tobias, your little machine seems to be coming along very nicely, but the fact still remains that I need some space for my own work.

Tobias couldn't help but smile, for he knew that Hera was more impressed than she let on. "Fine, fine Hera, I'll clear some space for you over in one of the cells down here that is no longer occupied. That one behind you is quite large and should do nicely."

Hera gaped at him, her face turning a light shade of red. "A cell?! What do I look like, one of your minotaur creatures?!"

Nim laughed even more, but then said in a placating manner, "Now Hera, Tobias can't very well move this huge machine anywhere and that cell is actually quite spacious. All you'd have to do is take the door off its hinges and move your things in there."

Hera glowered at Nim menacingly while Tobias picked up on Nim's argument. "That's true Hera, I mean what do you have in the way of equipment, a microscope, a few petri dishes and a couple of flame burners? That space should be plenty of...."

He never got the chance to finish for Hera had already stomped out of the lab after giving a little scream of frustration.

Nim shrugged as he took his catmonk down off of the bars of the cell where it had climbed up and then he said, "Don't worry about her Tobias, she'll be alright. Once we have destroyed the world, she'll be queen of the lab and happy again."

The door swished opened as Nim walked out, but Tobias said to himself, "She'll never be queen of anything if I can help it." He then returned to his work, forgetting about Hera and her request. He had more important things to attend to.
**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

"Lor certainly is busy!" Draya remarked as she swirled around the pavilion, coming to rest beside Puphf as she chattered on in her crackling, dry voice. "The things that he and the dark horde are doing to people are just awful, did you see Tobias kill that man?! Well, that was hard to watch! And where is Azazel?!" She was looking around at their usual party, but Azazel was not in attendance.

"He is away on Lyra, doing some work for the Consulate," Replied General Gabriel.

Puphf nodded and boomed loudly, "I was wondering where he had gotten to myself. Who have you been watching on Lyra?" He asked Draya,

"Probably the same people that everyone is watching, Olen and his family; that is where all the good action is right now." Draya replied.

Charel spoke up for himself and General Gabriel and said, "We always watch Lor and the horde to see what they are doing, but we'll focus on Olen and his family since you're here Draya. You must be quiet now, so we can watch." Draya readily complied as they turned back towards the view of Lyra.
**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

Jace dug his hands into the rich, dark brown soil, closed his eyes, listened for the hum and felt for the warmth. The vibrations from the crops in the field traveled up his arms and into his brain, and in turn, he communicated growth, and encouragement to them. The vibrations from the crops got faster and he knew that the whole field was responding to his thoughts and presence.

Opening his eyes and leaning forward, he concentrated on the shoots closest to him, watching as they unfurled their tiny, tender, green leaves before his very eyes.

He had always had a way with plants. His father told him that the talent had started with his great, times ten, Uncle Kayne, who could make a tree go from a seedling to full grown in one day, and that talent had passed down through generations to him.

Moments later, he heard the first dinner bell clang, so he disengaged from the field and wiped his hands on his jerkin as he hurried towards the house.

His father's house was a sprawling, 5200 sq. ft. ranch style home that housed himself, his parents, his two brothers, their two wives and Asa, a friend that had lived with them so long, it was hard to think of him as anything but a member of their family.

Their spread stretched over 500 acres to the north and included much farmland and cattle. Jace was in charge of the crops and they had the best produce in the land; because of his talent, their crops came up faster, bigger and tastier than anyone else's.

His brother Thorn had the same kind of talent, only with animals, where he actually talked to them and in turn, could understand what they said; even the birds would come and land on his shoulders. It was believed that his talent was passed down to him from their Uncle Lybel, who had been killed by his brother, their Uncle Kayne.

Jace's other brother, Hemlet, much to his consternation, had no special talent, but Rene, their mother, always said that he was her favorite because he was normal. Jace and Thorn just laughed because they felt that she said that just to make Hemlet feel better.

Today, his father's best friend Thomos and his wife Claret with their two children were coming over for dinner. Jace didn't particularly care for Thomos and Claret, yet he thought their oldest child Java was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

When his father Olen and his friend Thomos were young, they had grown up on neighboring ranches in the country, but while Olen had been raised to worship and believe in the Consulate, Thomos' family followed the way of Molech. When they had gotten older, their paths had widely diverged, Olen taking over his father Lamech's ranch and Thomos moving to the city of Gilden.

Thomos wanted to be powerful and important, so he began worshipping Z, the god of power. He then cultivated friendships and associates in the elite circles, getting into politics and running for office. He had first become a spokesman for the Gatekeepers of Gilden, then climbed the ladder until now, he was Vice President of the Senate, one of the most prestigious positions in the city. Even though they had taken different pathways, he and Olen had somehow maintained their friendship and their children had grown up experiencing a little of both worlds.

While Olen had taught his boys to love and trust the Consulate, he had also allowed them to experience something of city life too, so that they could make an informed decision about what they believed and how they wanted to live, but he always made sure that they understood that whatever questions they had, they were free to ask him openly and without reservation, no matter what the topic.

Reaching the house, Jace greeted everyone. The men, were setting up the tables for dinner and his mother, along with Claret, Java and Mim were putting the finishing touches on dinner. When he greeted Java, his heartbeat quickened in his chest and he quickly ducked inside the house to wash up.

Coming back out, he stopped to watch Java teaching Mim how to make the barley cakes. Java's barley cakes were his favorite, they were so light, golden and delicious with just a taste of honey.

He watched as she patiently showed Mim how to knead the dough delicately with her hands, then allow the cakes to rise before putting them in a pan over the fire to bake. Jace could just see her with her own children someday, hopefully his children too, he thought.

"Uncle Olen! Uncle Olen! Look what I made!" Mim ran over to Jace's father and took him by the hand, pulling him over to the fire so that they could watch the cakes bake.

Java turned the cakes, then placed sliced mango, fresh strawberries and kiwi on a plate on the table beside a mound of assorted nuts and various vegetables. Coconut nectar sat in a pitcher to complete the meal.

Jace's mother rang the final dinner bell and everyone came to the table, exclaiming over the barley cakes to little Mim, who beamed proudly.

When everyone was seated, Olen nodded gravely and everyone linked hands around the table as they bowed their heads to give thanks. "Oh Mighty One, we thank you for this bounty. Bless the hands that prepared it, and may it nourish and strengthen us to do your will. In your name we pray, Amen."

As soon as the blessing was finished, everyone began helping themselves, passing around the food and chatting about the events of the day.

"Did anyone see the Nephilim at the meeting today?" Olen asked, as he put fresh butter on a hot barley cake.

Thomos' eyebrows shot up as he said, "No! I didn't see anyone that looked like Nephilim, did you boys?" He asked Asa, Jace, Thorn and Hemlet, who shook their heads, their mouths full of food.

Asa swallowed then spoke up, looking at Olen with concern, "Are you sure it was Nephilim?" He asked.

"Pretty sure," replied Olen, biting into and chewing a light barley cake. He winked at Mim and rubbed his stomach to let her know how good it was. She could hardly eat she was so excited.

Then Olen continued his conversation, "He didn't look like Nephilim, he was in disguise. They can change their shape you know, to look like one of us, but their eyes give them away."

"Their eyes glow, right?" Asked Jace.

"Yes," Olen replied. "There was a man standing in the back on the edge of the crowd listening. He had on a cloak with a hood that was pulled up over his head. His face was in deep shadow, but I could see the faint glow of his eyes as he stared at me. He didn't stay very long, but I'm sure it was Nephilim."

Thorn's eyes narrowed as he looked at his father. "Do you think they will try to stop us from building the pod?" He asked, his food forgotten on his plate.

"It's unlikely that they will, I don't really know; but either way, we are doing the Consulate's will, so they will protect us from any harm. I just thought it was an interesting development."

Asa nodded in agreement and he and Olen continued to calmly eat their dinner, but his sons were looking at each other as if in silent communication.

Thomos' expression had been one of derision ever since the blessing, but was especially so now, at the mention of the Consulate, but still, he offered no comment.

"Maybe we should take the women to Gilden where they can stay while we're building the pod." Said Thorn. "The walls of the city and the soldiers and knights there may offer them some protection if it becomes necessary."

Olen shook his head, "The Consulate is more than capable of protecting us. If they wanted us to live in Gilden, we would already be there." He took a second barley cake and placed it on his plate, piling slices of strawberries on top.

Thomos finally spoke, "I think Thorn is right Olen," I've been trying to get you to move your family to Gilden for years now, maybe it's time if you think the Nephilim are watching you."

The women didn't say anything, but they looked at each other in a way that each one knew there would be an extended conversation on this subject later.

Olen nodded his head at Thomos' suggestion, but said, "I hear you my friend, but my trust in the Consulate is deep and firm and I'm not about to change that now; besides, how would we finish the escape pod if we are in Gilden, plus, and here he paused to smile at Rene, "I won't be separated from my wife."

At that declaration, Asa clapped Olen on the back in hearty agreement and then dinner continued in a care-free, laid back fashion.

At the end of the meal, the women began clearing the table and putting away the leftover food. When they were finished, the couples retired to an outdoor gazebo on the side of the house that was lighted with lanterns and hung with sheer netting.

Being the odd man out, Asa excused himself by saying, "Good night everyone, I am going to turn in early so that I will be well rested in the morning when we resume work on the pod." He grasped forearms with Thomos and bowed to Claret, Mim and Java, making the girls giggle, and then retired to the house.

The setting sun streaked the sky with bands of red, orange and yellow, providing the perfect backdrop for a romantic evening. The adults could be heard talking and laughing amongst themselves as Jace, Java and Mim made themselves scarce by going around to the back of the house to the pond that held different kinds of fish and frogs.

Fireflies began winking their lights as darkness fell and the sweet smell of honeysuckle perfumed the night air. The moon and stars shone with a brilliance that made it almost as easy to see in the night as it was in the daytime, only turning everything different shades of color.

There was a wooden bench by the pond and Jace sat there with Java, while Mim tried to catch fireflies to put in a jar.

"Your barley cakes were really good tonight." Jace said shyly. Java blushed, glad that the dim light gave her a little cover.

"They were really Mim's cakes," She answered, "but I guess I did help a little." Jace smiled down at her, gazing at the side of her face as she watched her sister run in the yard.

Her hair was brown and even though it was too dark to see them, he knew that it was streaked with highlights of red and gold. Her eyes were the greenest he'd ever seen, framed with long, dark lashes that even now, seemed to dust her cheeks as she looked down at her hands.

Java and Jace had grown up around each other, but in the last year, things between them had begun to change. Where they had been best friends, their friendship had begun to blossom into something more.

Jace was a little nervous and could tell that Java was as nervous as he was, so he tried to put her at ease by holding her hand, but that seemed to only make her more nervous.

"Will you go with me to the festival next first day in Gilden?" He asked her earnestly. He had been waiting for the perfect time to ask her, and time was running out. He didn't know if anyone else had asked her or not and he waited anxiously for her reply; but she beamed up at him without hesitation and said, "Sure! I'd love to go with you! I didn't think you were going to ask."

Jace grinned back at her a little sheepishly and said, "Well, I was just waiting for the right moment."

They smiled at each other, both of them relieved to have the awkward moment behind them and the festival to look forward to. Feeling more relaxed, they talked about what seemed to be on everyone's lips.

"Do you really believe that it's going to rain like your father says?" Asked Java, her eyes staring into his own.

"I do." Jace said simply.

"How is that possible though?" Java asked sincerely, her forehead puckering in consternation.

Jace shrugged his shoulders and answered, "I honestly don't know, but if dad says the Consulate told him it's going to rain, I believe him."

Java sighed and then turned her face up to the sky to gaze at the stars that blazed in the night. "Water from the sky," She murmured, "How very bizarre."

"Yeah, it is strange," Jace agreed, "but I believe that with the Consulate, anything is possible.

"I suppose you're going to get on the escape pod with your family?" She asked, not looking at him as she asked the question.

"Yes, I am," Jace replied firmly. "Isn't your family going to come?" He asked her.

Java shook her head, "Even though papa and Uncle Olen are close, he doesn't believe anything Uncle Olen says about the Consulate or the rain coming." She glanced sideways at Jace as she continued, trying to gauge his reaction. "He says your dad is a good man, but a little..." and here she paused as if searching for the right word.

"Crazy?" Jace offered, chuckling a little. Java smiled and looked down, embarrassed, but not denying the word. Jace patted her hand gently. "It's okay, I've heard it all.

Jace changed his voice as he mimicked what he'd heard others say. "Water from the sky is impossible! The Consulate doesn't talk to people anymore, they haven't done that in hundreds of years ever since Noch disappeared! Where's he going to put that monstrosity of a boat?! It won't even fit into the Crystal Sea!"

Java laughed at his joking, but then stopped as she saw him looking at her earnestly.

"Java, I know your parents don't believe, and maybe you don't either, but if, I mean, _when_ we get on the pod, I really want you to come with us."

Java smiled at him, but her eyes were sad as she said, "I don't want to be separated from you either Jace, but..." She stopped and looked down at their hands entwined together on her lap. "I just don't think papa will allow me to go with you. He thinks it's a lot of foolishness and doesn't want to be ridiculed in the eyes of the world. He likes to be listened to, respected and looked up to, and I can't see him going against the elite of Gilden."

Jace nodded sadly and sighed, "I understand, but Java," And he tilted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes, "Someday, you're going to have to decide for yourself what you want to do and who you want to worship."

She smiled at him and took the hand that was on her chin, holding it in her own so that both of their hands now lay entwined on her lap. "I know Jace, and when that day comes, I promise, you will be the first to know what I decide. I guess I just need..." She paused, frowning up at the night sky. "I don't know, proof or something?" She looked back at him, needing his understanding.

Jace nodded. "I know what you mean and I understand and will wait for you for as long as it takes. But Java," she looked up at him expectantly, "The flood is not going to wait and I don't know how much time we have. Dad's already been preaching this message for the last 200 years and the flood could happen any day."

Java rolled her eyes, but patted his hand softly to lighten the gesture, "Isn't that what everyone's been saying?" Now she mimicked voices she had heard. "Lyra is coming to an end! There's so much wickedness, the flood is going to wipe it all out! Get ready to pack and get on the escape pod, you don't want to be left behind!" She smiled gently as Jace laughed and then she laughed with him.

Then Jace replied, "Yeah, I know, I've been hearing it all my life, but I believe it, you know?" Java nodded to let him know she understood.

"Let me ask you a question," Jace said turning to face her more fully, "If you're right and we're wrong, the worst thing that can happen is we'll be stuck with a gigantic, stupid looking pod in the middle of Shinar Valley." Java laughed again as Jace continued a little more seriously. "But if we're right and you're wrong..." He left the statement unfinished as they stared at each other.

Suddenly, Jace looked up as if someone had called his name. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up and goose bumps prickled his arms as he stared into the dark forest that surrounded the back of the house.

"What is it Jace?" Java whispered as she looked in the direction he was looking in.

"I don't know, but I feel like we're being watched. He peered into the darkness again, and not seeing anything shook his head. He released her hands and got up, then thought better of it and turned and grabbed her hand again as he started towards the house calling out, "Mim! We're going in! Come on!"

Mim snagged the jar of fireflies she had collected and opened it up, releasing them back into the yard, then she ran to catch up with Jace and Java who had broken into a light jog and they all entered the house together.

Nearby, Tobias faded back into the woods and moving swiftly and silently, returned to Mount Olympia.

Getting ready for bed, Olen's wife turned to him and asked, "Did you see Jace with Java tonight? I think he's in love with her!" Rene giggled as she brushed her hair.

Olen smiled and said, "I've been keeping my eye on those two for a long while now, but I don't know..."

Rene laid her brush down and came over to him, "What is it Olen? Are you worried because she wasn't raised the way we raised our own, to love and worship only the Consulate?"

Olen nodded gravely, then said, "Yes, I've seen people who worship the Consulate marry someone who worshipped, oh, I don't know, Hera or Nim or some such god and before you know it, they've got their spouse all wrapped up in that nonsense!"

Rene laid her head on Olen's shoulder and said, "Well, maybe it'll be the other way around this time."

Olen shrugged and said, "I've learned not to interfere with things and to just trust the Consulate to take care of it all. They know what is best for each one of us."

"Did the Consulate really ask you to build that monstrosity you and the boys are working on?" Rene asked softly.

Olen smiled down at her wryly and then kissed her lightly on the forehead. "You know I could never come up with a story like that on my own dear, I don't have that good of an imagination! Can you imagine it, water falling from the sky to the point where the entire planet is filled with it and it covers everything?!"

Rene shook her head as she nestled down next to her husband. "No, I can't even begin to imagine it, I mean, how would that even be possible?"

"The Consulate can do anything." Olen replied.

"Why though?" Rene asked plaintively as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Why would they destroy everything in the world?"

Olen sighed as he hugged her close. "You know how wicked and crazy this world has become. Unnatural creatures that the Consulate did not make are everywhere, terrorizing people, making them burn up their own children, people sacrifice their offspring on a daily basis to all of the gods on Mount Olympia, he shook his head. "It's beyond me how anyone can do that to a child, a baby! Everyone is miserable and maybe this is the Consulate's solution to give them some peace until it's time for them to come and clean this all up."

Rene contemplated Olen's words then asked, "Do you think many people will come into the pod when it is finished in order to escape what is coming?"

Olen shrugged, then yawned sleepily, "I would think so. I mean, why wouldn't they?"

Rene looked up at him; his eyes were closed and his breathing was evening out as he neared the edges of sleep. "Because dear, it's so fantastic, they may not believe you."

Olen smiled and said, his eyes still closed, "Well, it will be their necks then. Now go to sleep and try not to worry about all of this. The Consulate will take care of everything."

Rene sighed deeply then resting her head on Olen's chest, she closed her eyes as well. Sleep was slow in coming, but eventually, she drifted off and dreamed of a world with nothing but water.
**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

"I love a good love story!" Rustled Draya, as she fluttered in the air around everyone, not taking any shape in particular, just letting her leaves go in a happy, wispy dance.

"Yes, yes, the love story is nice, but what gets me is that everyone thinks that the Consulate are the ones that are going to destroy Lyra!" Boomed Puphf, "Why does someone not tell them that it is not the Consulate who are doing this?"

"Because," replied General Gabriel, "Even though the Consulate are not actually behind the destruction of Lyra, they _are_ allowing it. They could easily put an end to the schemes of Lor, but when they do not, they still take responsibility for his actions as they do with all of their creations, whether those actions are good or bad."

Lancing flexed his wings and ruffled his feathers as he stepped into the conversation. "Yes, I remember when Lor was here and he came up with all of those wonderful new things that he would implement, but all of the praise still went to the Consulate. We never praised Lor himself for anything."

Puphf thought about that and then turned to a mellow yellow as he nodded his head. "I guess I understand that, but it still seems that someone should inform the Lyrans so that they will not think badly of the Consulate."

Charel replied to Puphf, "I believe that if it were important for the Lyrans to know, the Consulate would make sure that they knew. Evidently, them having that knowledge is either not important or...."

"Or the Consulate have a reason for not telling them!" Finished Draya brightly.

"Exactly Draya!" Charel beamed at the tree and then turned back to the VS and said, "Let us see what is going on in Gilden."
**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

Gilden was beautiful. Its walls were made of white stone that sparkled in the sunlight, and were 100 feet tall and 50 feet wide. It stretched out over the entire western hemisphere of the lower continent, from the Mountains of Kalendor in the north, all the way to the Valley of Shinar in the south. It was so large, it had six gates and the avenue from each gate lead to six separate town squares.

Each town square held a market place which were always very lively and colorful, with the delicious smells of pastries and sweets wafting from their bakeries. There were always some entertainers and performers in the squares, doing amazing feats of magic or showcasing their strange, little caged animals that they'd taught to do tricks.

You could find the most exotic fruits in Gilden, some vendors claiming to have the very fruit from the tree of life, promising that whoever ate it would live way past 1000 years old.

There weren't any poor people in Gilden, or anywhere on Lyra for that matter. The world was young and very rich in its bounty. The only things that people wished for was pleasure, which they found in myriad and destructive ways, and power over others; and they used witchcraft, the occult, substance abuse and sexual debauchery to obtain that.

The city was protected by the knights of King Caldon at all times, but what really kept the Minotaur and their ilk from attacking was the fact that the people made sacrifices to them on a regular basis.

The Minotaur were blood-thirsty creatures that did not eat the fruit of the land as did its natural inhabitants, but ate the meat of other living creatures, their favorite being young, tender, Lyran flesh.

Huge iron statues of the god Molech were erected around the outside of the city, far enough away that the stink of burning Lyran flesh did not reach the city. The bottom of the statue was filled with fire, which made the entire thing very hot like an oven. The statue of Molech was erected with its arms outstretched and babies and children would be placed in the hot, metal arms of the god to die in a slow and most horrible fashion.

There were many children in one household for children were considered part of a man's wealth and were a sign of his virility. It was common for people to have children for the sole purpose of sacrificing them to Molech.

The Nephilim who lived on Mount Olympia, who also posed as gods, demanded sacrifices from their devotees as well. During high days, feast days and rites of passage, the Nephilim would perform many miraculous signs for the people, making it appear that the sun were dancing in the sky or they would appear in the heavens themselves as some glorified demi-god.

The people adored them and wanted to imitate them. Fashions were dictated by how the gods would appear to the people and clothing and hairstyles were fashioned after them. Statues of them were placed in homes and around the city, while jewelry was fashioned in their likeness out of gold and silver. People knew the god you served because it was worn on your person.

Thomos centered the small golden replica of Z that hung from a thick, gold chain about his neck, and straightened his purple and black robes in the mirror before carefully donning his Sherpa hat. He was very meticulous about his appearance, for appearance and connections were everything to him. He had to have the latest fashions and technology and his wives and all of his children did too.

Thomos smiled slyly to himself as he thought about his childhood friend Olen, who had no idea that Thomos had five wives and thirty children instead of one wife and the measly two girls that Claret had managed to give him. She hadn't even managed to push out a boy! She was pathetic that one!

"Here's your lunch dear." Claret said, coming up behind him and handing him his lunch reticule.

Thomos took his lunch without thanking her and avoided the kiss that she tried to plant on his cheek. Instead, he turned his back to her and asked, "Did you talk to Java about her obvious attachment to that boy?"

Claret took the opportunity while his back was to her to smooth his robes down, while at the same time, patting his shoulders. He walked away from her and her hands fell to her sides. Claret acted like she didn't notice and began chattering away, "No, I haven't had a chance, but I will talk to her today. Jace is a nice boy and all, but it just won't do for her to get too attached to him and then have to turn down a marriage proposal. Can you imagine our Java getting married to him and him taking her into that awful, huge pod thing?! Oh what a mess that would be, so embarrassing! We would be laughed out of Gilden, right along with Olen's family!"

Thomos looked at her sourly and said, "Olen's family does not live in Gilden." He rolled his eyes and mumbled something derogatory under his breath.

After a moment of awkward silence, Thomos said, "Well, I'm glad we're on the same page, I was afraid with you being a woman and all, that you would be entertaining some sort of romantic notions for Java. I'm happy to see that you do have a little sense about you! Besides, Canton has a son that sits at the Gateway with us, you know the one, Gareth is his name; he will be perfect for Java!"

Claret shook her head slowly at him with one hand pressed to her bosom and said, "But he's already married, several times over!"

"What does that matter?!" Thomos snapped at her, "He's rich and well connected and that's all I really want for my girls! Love may be fine for some folks like Olen and Rene, but look at where they are and look at where we are!" He swept his arms up as he proudly looked around at their fine home in the middle of one of the elite district of Gilden.

Claret nodded her head and said, "Yes dear."

Thomos went to the transport closet at the front of the house and opened the door and then offered, "Don't wait supper for me, I'll be home late."

He walked in and punched in the coordinates for Gateway 5, then stepped inside and carefully sealed the door. The transporter hummed briefly, then he felt a tingling as it swept him away in a flood of electrons to his destination.

Meanwhile, Claret's mind was in a whirl! She knew that her beautiful daughter was her father's favorite, even if he didn't know it himself, and Claret was jealous! Java had two things that Claret would never have, and that was beauty and Thomos' love. Well, if she married Olen's boy, she would get on the ship with him, be made a fool of after nothing happened, and then go to live out in the country with him, never to be heard from again!

The two youngsters had already developed feelings for each other and that was half the battle! How to get Thomos to agree to the match, she did not know, but if she could get Jace to marry Java before Thomos' plan to get Gareth involved went into action, it wouldn't matter what he said, it would be a done deal. She absolutely could not have Java married to Gareth! She already had the beauty, to have more wealth and power than she herself did was not to be borne!

"Salin!" She called to the maid, "I'm going out!" Salin came hustling down the stairs with gloves on and cleaning supplies in hands, but Claret didn't care about that. "Watch the children while I'm gone, I should be back in a little while."

Salin curtsied and waited until her mistress was out of the house before saying under her breath, "Gone for the rest of the day is more like it!" She rolled her eyes at the closed door, then went back upstairs at a much slower pace than when she came down. With the master and mistress both out of the house, today was going to be a good day!
**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

General Gabriel streaked up to the pavilion where Charel and Lancing were gathered with the rest of the Etherael. "Where are Puphf and Draya?" He asked as he settled beside Charel, who winced as he watched lightning crackle from Lor's fingertips as he charred Bree to within an inch of his life for some minor infraction.

"They wanted to watch Olen build the pod, they said it was more interesting than watching Lor, so they are over there with the Etherael who follow Olen."

"What did poor Bree do to deserve burnt wings?" Asked the general, as they continued to watch Lor bully his underlings. "He was not able to get Olen to cheat on his wife with Claret. That was one of Lor's plans to stop them from building the pod.

"Wow, did Olen tell Rene what Claret tried to do?" Gabriel asked.

Lancing and Charel laughed for a minute and then Charel explained, "Olen did not even know what Claret was trying to do. She called herself flirting with him, but he did not recognize it as flirting, he thought she was just being nice and passed it over like it was nothing! You should have seen the look on her face; she was very upset and more than a little embarrassed!"

They all laughed at that and then Charel said, "Let us zoom in on Olen to see what they are doing. I am kind of getting tired of watching Lor brow beat the horde all the time, it is getting old."

"I see you have picked up some of the Lyran way of speaking." Lancing said in his precise, clicking fashion.

Charel laughed and said, "Well after watching them for so many years, it is hard not to pick up some of the things they say. I kind of like the way they speak, it is so colorful at times."

General Gabriel agreed and then they settled down to watch Olen and his family.
**CHAPTER TWENTY**

As the years passed, the pod rapidly took shape as Jace took time from the farm to lend his talents to his father. They had people come and help them from time to time, but the only outsider that had ever come and stayed on to help them was their friend Asa.

Jace and Asa would take a beam of gopher wood and while Asa held it in place, Jace, using only his mind, would bend it and shape it so that it fit perfectly into place on the ark. Behind him came Hemlet with the pitch to make it water-tight and Thorn came behind him to wipe off the excess pitch, smooth it out and make it look pristine.

Asa also helped Olen with the inside, running electrical wiring, or making sure that the water, waste and refrigeration systems functioned correctly. They worked quickly and well together and even though the work progressed at a rapid pace, the pod was so gigantic, with so many different compartments, that Jace believed that it would take many more years to complete.

On 7th days, they would not work, but after the morning sacrifice around the altar, would go into Gilden where Olen would preach to the throngs of people, telling them about the Consulate, how much they loved and cared for all of them and how the pod was being built to save their lives. He preached in a different square every week, hoping to reach everyone he could.

The people were generally receptive and attentive, especially in the beginning years, but as time rolled by with nothing taking place, life went on as usual and people stopped making plans to get on the pod. They would still stop and listen to Olen at times, nodding their heads in agreement as he spoke of the wickedness of the world, but after it was over, they would go on their way and about their lives, choosing to forget from week to week that the world was coming to an end.

One day, while working on the pod, Thorn's head snapped up and his eyes narrowed, "Minotaur!" He yelled, and in a flash the three brothers along with Asa and Olen were off of the scaffolding around the pod and on the ground, their backs turned to the pod and their eyes darting to and fro watching the edges of the forest around them. They were working on the pod in the Valley of Shinar, but were situated only a few miles from the forest for easy access to their building materials.

Normally, the woods only held gentle woodland creatures, while the abominations that the Nephilim had created lived many hundreds of miles from them to the north in Darkovia Forest outside of Kalendor. Thorn's affinity for animals had alerted him to their presence and no one doubted his verdict.

"What would they be doing here?!" Hissed Hemlet.

"I told you that we should have gone to Gilden! They would not dare to attack us there! Now we'll have to fight these savages on our own!" Thorn whispered in fear and anger; but Olen was calm, as was Asa beside him.

Olen looked up to the sky and closed his eyes and they knew he was asking the Consulate for protection. "Thorn! He said, as he opened his eyes, we may have to fight, but use your talent to see if you can control them, turn them away and make them leave!"

Asa began looking around for something to use in defense, all the time keeping his eyes on the forest's edge; Olen, Thorn, Hemlet and Jace looked around too and in a moment, the five of them had found various tools they could use as weapons.

For long moments, there was nothing but the rustling of the wind through the trees, but then the ground began to subtly shake at the Minotaur's approach. Minotaur had the torso of a male Lyran, but their heads, legs, feet, and hooves were of the bull and Thorn concentrated on reaching the animal in them. He stretched his hand out towards the forest, sending peaceful thoughts towards them, but the trembling of the ground only got stronger until they saw them burst through the edge of the forest into the open plain.

All five of them gasped aloud at the sight. They had never seen a live Minotaur before, only the grotesque, iron idols that were erected in the groves to the god Molech. There were no more than fifty Minotaur, but each one was massive. They stood 15 ft tall and each of their horns was 6 feet in length. Their upper torsos were pure rippling muscle that was heavily veined, while their entire bodies were covered in coarse, heavy hair. Their hooves ripped out clods of earth as they ran, making a loud, staccato rhythm on the ground that corresponded with the shaking they initially felt. The shaking got so strong, cracks began to appear in the ground beneath their feet, and they carried heavy weapons made of iron in their huge, meaty fists that they brandished menacingly once they saw them.

"Thorn!" Jace screamed above the din of the Minotaur's bellows, looking desperately in his brother's direction as he continued to concentrate with eyes closed and hand outstretched; but it wasn't working. They didn't have to ask to see that he was not making the connection he desired. Thorn shook his head as if trying to clear it.

The Minotaur were very heavy creatures and they did not run at the lightning speed of the Nephilim, but they were moving fast enough to make them all very uncomfortable.

Jace looked at his brother once more, than straight ahead as he, Asa, Hemlet and Olen braced themselves for the attack. Even though they were shorter and not as heavily muscled, Jace figured that what they lacked in sheer size and strength, they more than made up for in intelligence. He just hoped that being cleverer became a factor in this fight.

Just then, Asa leapt behind them saying, "I'll be right back, I think I know something that will help!" None of them turned to see what he was getting, they just kept their eyes on the advancing enemy.

Suddenly, a streak of light so bright Olen and his sons cried out and shielded their eyes, came from the heavens, swooping down to encircle them and the pod. It kept going around and around them so fast that it seemed like one solid band of light.

They looked at each other, eyes wide with amazement and Hemlet mouthed, "The Consulate." The rest of them nodded in agreement as they watched the streak of light continue to encircle them.

Jace thought he could make out the outline of a being with wings, but he could never say for sure. They couldn't see through the band of light, but the trembling of the ground ceased and when the being streaked away back towards the heavens, the only thing that remained that spoke of the Minotaur's presence was the ground that had been torn up by their hooves. Dazed and astonished, they all looked at each other in amazement before Olen began laughing and pumping his fist in the air. "I TOLD you the Consulate would protect us! What a display of power!" He clapped Hemlet on the back and the boys finally loosened up, smiled and hugged each other, just happy to still be alive.

Asa came running from the side of the pod, yelling, "Did you see that?! It was SO amazing!"

"Yeah! We saw it!" Olen exclaimed, grinning at Asa, although Hemlet was still a little wary.

"I wonder where they went." He said, as he picked his bucket of pitch back up and started to climb the scaffolding up the side of the pod.

"Probably back to Kalendoria!" Grinned Thorn, I can't feel them at all! It's like they were never here!"

"Well now that we _know_ the Consulate is backing us," started Jace.

"I never doubted it for one second!" His father replied.

"Me either!" Declared Asa.

"Well, I had my doubts," Jace continued, "But now that they've actually rescued us from certain death and protected the pod on top of that, let's get this thing built!"

As they got back to work, Jace couldn't help but glance over his shoulder every now and then. The Minotaur were gone, but he still felt that someone or something malevolent, was still watching, just as he'd felt it the other night when he was outside with Java.

Suddenly, some of the trees in the forest began to shake as if they were being hit with something very hard and after a few seconds, several of them fell with a crash. The boys were standing on the scaffolding staring at the forest with wide eyes, but nothing else happened.

They looked at their father as he was taking a measurement and he simply shrugged and said, "Less trees we'll have to cut down."

They were about to go back to work, when there was a loud roar from the forest. It made the hair on Jace's arms stand up. He looked at Thorn to see what kind of animal was out there, but Thorn's face was pale as he shook his head and said, "That was no animal. I don't know what that was!"

Olen and Asa exchanged a look and knew that with all that had transpired, they weren't going to get anything more done today, so Olen said, "Hey guys, why don't we call it a day a little early? We can go to the house to see what mother is planning for dinner." He received no arguments as they all readily packed up and hurried for home.

Tobias had opted to go with the Kalendorians to oversee the job of getting rid of the Preacher and his family. He wanted no mistakes, no excuses and absolutely no failure. If they failed, Lor would not be happy and he would be the one paying the price for that; but they had failed, miserably!

He'd met up with the Kalendorians as they thundered down from the mountains through Darkovia Forest and into the plains, and he traveled at their pace, although it was irritatingly slow for him. When they reached Gilden, they went around the city, not wishing to alert anyone to their presence.

Approaching the woods that surrounded the Valley of Shinar, the Minotaur never slowed their pace, but speeded up as they approached the work site where the pod was taking shape.

Tobias could smell victory. He had been doing reconnaissance on the Preacher and his family and he knew that it was only the father, his three sons and what he assumed was their servant that worked on the ark. They would be alone and would have no one to help them fight off the mighty Minotaur. This would be very simple and would not take long.

While he was spying, he'd begun to develop a plan B in the eventuality that this did not work, but plan B was riskier and Tobias did not think it would be necessary anyway.

As they burst through the cover of the woods into the open field, Tobias stopped and stayed within the trees to watch the Minotaur make short work of the little family. He saw that they had heard their approach and had grabbed tools to use as weapons to defend themselves. He chuckled to himself, knowing how ineffective that would be against the brawn and might of the Minotaur band.

He bounced lightly on his toes in anticipation of the carnage to come, wishing that he didn't need to stay hidden, wanting to participate in the ripping, rending and tearing of the five burly men.

Suddenly, when the Minotaur were not far from their target, a streak of light came from the sky, traveling so fast it looked like the lightning that came from Hera's fingertips. The light encircled the pod and the little family, flying around and around them so fast, it looked like a solid band of gold.

Suddenly, out of the band of gold a ray of fire shot out and completely consumed the Minotaur band. One second they were there, and the in the next instant, they were gone.

Tobias sucked in a breath and faded further back into the woods, but continued to watch. As soon as the Minotaur had been consumed, the streak of light that he knew was an Etherael from Aeriel, went back the way it had come, leaving the pod and family unharmed.

Tobias clenched his fists and ground his teeth in anger. This was unacceptable, but there was no point in trying _this_ again. This family was truly protected by the Consulate.

He would immediately have to implement Plan B and go around the Consulate through other channels, other people that were _not_ protected by them.

Overcome with frustration and rage, Tobias lashed out at the trees around him with fire bolts from his hands, ripping into them in an effort to expend some of his wrath. Felling the trees revealed his presence, but he did not care because they would not find him there. With a loud roar, he flashed towards Mount Olympia to immediately put his next plan into action.
**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

"Did you see Azazel come to their rescue?!" General Gabriel was uncharacteristically grinning and looked like a proud parent.

"Watching this certainly is more exciting than watching Lor and the dark horde manipulate people." Charel said. They were all pumped up after watching one of their own rescue Olen and his family.

"So that is what Azazel is doing down there, he has been commissioned to keep a special watch on Olen and his people while they build the escape pod!" Puphf boomed.

"Yes, there are a few million Etherael that were sent to Lyra after Adon lost the planet to Lor, but Azazel is there for the express purpose of watching over Olen." General Gabriel replied.

"Let us follow Tobias to Mount Olympia to see what plan B is, I would wager it is something horrible!" Draya enthused. General Gabriel nodded in acquiescence before zooming in on Mount Olympia and the Nephilim.

They were all there waiting for him when he arrived back at Mount Olympia. Hera had the usual smirk on her face as he stalked in and that made him even madder. He hit the table hard, causing the ComNet unit that sat in the center to jump, and causing Hera to roll her eyes and turn away from him to stare out of the wall length window.

"So..." Pan began.

"OK, so it didn't work!" Snarled Tobias, "But I have another plan!"

"I can't wait to hear this!" Hera said sarcastically.

Tobias ignored her as he continued. "Jace is the talent in the family for that kind of work and the project has progressed so quickly because of him, but if he were to stop helping them, that would slow things down considerably!"

"And how do you propose to get Jace to stop helping his father?!" Nim asked irritably, as if Tobias was being slow and it was getting on his nerves.

"He's in love." Tobias answered simply.

The group's collective look said, "So?"

"And she does not worship the Consulate." He finished.

"Ah!" Z's eyebrows shot up at the same time that everyone else saw the light.

"So, no bright, shining Etherael to her rescue, eh?" Lenora said smiling. Tobias nodded his head.

"So, what's the plan?" Pan asked, "The simple kidnap and threaten with death routine or are we doing something more elaborate?"

Tobias steepled his hands together in front of his face, his eyes narrowed in thought. "I think we should keep this simple; it will leave less room for failure." Pan nodded in agreement.

The girl's name is Java, her parents are Thomos and Claret of Gilden. Thomos worships Z and Claret worships you Hera." He nodded towards Hera's motionless form still standing by the window.

"So?" She asked.

"So, you or Z pay your neophytes a visit and in exchange for their hearts desires, demand the girl as sacrifice. Once we have the girl, we send this Jace a message and we give him a week to decide. When he says he'll stop, we give him the girl..."

Nim interrupted vehemently, "And he goes right back to working on the pod with the girl under their protection! No, that will never work! We have to make sure he stops for good!"

"Oooh, I think I've got it!" Said Lenora, "We make him destroy the pod in exchange for the girl! That way, we'll be finished with our weapon within the month, but they will be set so far back that by the time they do get back to work and try to repair the damage, it will be too late for them to complete their little project!" Lenora beamed as everyone else nodded their consent.

"Hera, Z, which one of you has the most leverage with her parents?"

"I've got this." Said Hera almost immediately as she stalked towards the door. The look she gave Tobias said, watch and learn. No one questioned her methods, they simply began preparing for the girls arrival.
**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO**

Claret gripped the golden image of Hera that hung about her neck as she stared into the mirror. Her lips trembled in movement as she uttered the same prayers that she had been praying for years, that Hera take away her plainness in exchange for beauty. She promised a lifetime of devotion and undying gratitude.

Suddenly, Claret heard a voice that seemed to come from all around her. "Claret!" She became flustered as she looked around and there was the goddess Hera on her ComNet screen. She had countless pictures and images of her around the house, but Claret had never actually seen her animated. Her straight, blonde hair shimmered, and it seemed that a halo of light emanated from her. Her blue eyes sparkled and her luscious, red lips were slightly parted to reveal perfectly white teeth.

Claret quickly curtsied, her heart pounding out a disjointed rhythm. The ComNet took up one whole wall and the image of Hera seemed to take over the room.

"Claret!" Hera spoke her name again. "Yes goddess?" Claret said, her face flushing with emotion.

"Beauty requires sacrifice!" Hera was looking at her sternly, as if she were angry with her.

"Yes goddess." Claret replied, her eyes wide with wonder.

"Are you prepared to make the necessary sacrifice, Claret?"

"Oh ye-ye-yes goddess! Yes!" Claret stammered, clasping her hands fervently in front of her as she gazed at the ComNet screen.

"Then bring Java to the sacrificial platform five on the west side of the city in exactly 48 hours. I will then grant you the beauty you desire."

Hera did not wait for a reply from Claret, but the CNS went blank and Claret was left staring at it with her mouth open, her heart pounding even louder than before. Her mind was a whirl, and she clutched the image of Hera that hung about her neck in her hand so tightly, the grooves of the idol threatened to cut into her skin.

Thomos would not be pleased about this. He had been telling her that worshipping Hera was a waste of time, since clearly she was not anymore beautiful now than when he'd married her. Yet, now was her chance! She would show him, she would show them all!

She kissed the image in her hand as she rushed from the room calling loudly, "Java! Java!"

"Yes mother?" Java came out of the library with a book in her hand. She took in her mother's too bright eyes and flushed face and immediately grasped her arms. "Mother! What is it? What's happened?"

Claret was a fast thinker and she'd already come up with a plausible story for Java. "Your cousin Maya is going to be sacrificed on the west platform in a mere 48 hours! Hera has demanded it of your Aunt Lydia!" Java's hand flew to her mouth in horror, while Claret continued. "I know, it's simply horrible, but we must be there for your Aunt!"

Java turned away from her mother and reached out to the ComNet. "NO!" Shouted Claret, "Lydia told me that it's set in stone and they don't want anyone to try to talk to them out of it, it will only make it that much more difficult! She only wants our support for Maya on that fateful day."

The color drained from Java's face as tears began running down her cheeks, as she stared at her mother. "Come on," Her mother took her by the hand, patting it gently. "You know the more things they take with them into the next life, the more comfortable and higher in status they will be. Let's go shopping for her and get her some new outfits and some nice jewelry.

Java nodded mutely, tears still streaking down her face. Maya wasn't her closest cousin, but it still seemed horrible all the same. She got her wrap and went to the front door where her mother and Mim waited.

Claret gave a slight shake of her head at Java as she approached, then glanced down in Mim's direction to let her know that she had not told the child. Java nodded once to let her know that she understood and they all got into the transporter together.

As they were shopping, Claret chattered on about nonsensical things until Java couldn't stand the small talk anymore, so she told her mother her news.

"I was talking to Jace on the ComNet yesterday and he told me that he and his brothers and father were almost attacked by a band of Minotaur!"

Claret stopped short and looked at her incredulously, then snorted as she continued shopping. "That's not even a very good lie Java, the Minotaur live all the way up north in the Darkovian Forest in Kalendor, everybody knows that! What in the world would they be doing all the way down south in the Valley of Shinar?!"

Her mother shook her head at her and then said, "You know dear, you shouldn't believe everything boys tell you. They will tell outrageous lies just to get what they want from you, if you know what I mean." She nodded her head in a knowing and wise fashion as she continued, "Now you know I love Olen and Rene as if they were my own kin, but that son of theirs is not the right one for you. Look at where they live and you know," Here she leaned in close to Java in a conspiratorial fashion, "He does all that weird stuff with plants! And Thorn with the animals! It's just not natural you know!"

Java sighed and made no reply. She didn't want her mother to know how she truly felt about Jace. She was in love and if he asked her to be his mate, her answer would be a resounding yes! But that was a conversation for another day.

47 hours later, they were once again in the HAC headed to the sacrificial platform on the west side of Gilden. Java had never been there, but she'd heard awful stories of what went on. Girls burned to a crisp right there on the platform or some snatched up in the jaws of a pterodactyl, or some who just disappeared, never to be heard from again.

Her mother had been very generous with the clothing and jewelry she'd bought for Maya and Java thought it was odd, but liked her mother a little better for it, because she usually seemed a slightly cold and calculating woman.

Platform five was identical to all of the other sacrificial platforms that had been placed around the city walls, except there was a huge five painted in the center of it. It was a flat, square space that sat on top of the wall and extended several feet out over the outside of the wall. In its center was a pole with chains attached to it, for there were very few willing participants.

Already, Java could hear the wailing from the girls that were going to be sacrificed, but once your parents got you up there, they handed you over to the guards and there was no fighting them.

Java craned her neck, searching for her Aunt and cousin, but did not see them. She turned to Claret, "Mother, I don't see Aunt Lydia or Cousin Maya, are you sure this is the right platform?"

"Yes dear, this is the correct platform, come along now, we don't want to miss them! It wouldn't do for Maya to go to the next life without all of the things necessary for her advancement."

Claret grabbed Java's arm and pulled her along, while Java struggled with the bags that she carried for Maya. Claret noticed Java struggling and said, "Here dear, let me call someone to help you with those." She gave what Java knew to be a false smile, then turned to wave down a guard.

A chill passed over Java and she looked around more carefully for Her cousin and aunt. She tried to hang back from her mother a bit, but Claret kept a firm grip on her arm. Java started to get a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and then she knew. She didn't know how she knew, but somehow it all clicked at the same time. They were at Hera's platform, her mother was a devout follower of Hera, while her aunt was a devout follower of Lenora and would never bring Maya down here, for her Aunt Lydia was already very beautiful, a fact that Java knew caused her mother a great deal of daily anguish.

Java stopped cold and planted her feet as she prepared to make a run back to the nearest transporter, but Claret was no fool and she knew her daughter well. She sensed the instant that Java had made the connection in her mind and she hollered out to the nearest guard, "We've got a runner! I need help with a runner!"

Java got out of her mother's grasp, but didn't even have the chance to make a full turn before there were two burly guards on either side of her, preventing her escape. She turned back to face her mother and was surprised to see tears in her eyes. So, she wasn't completely without feeling after all.

"Java," Claret grabbed the bags that Java held and put them on the ground at her feet, then held her hands tightly in her own. "This is for the best, you'll see! Hera has promised to make me beautiful beyond imagination and she asked for you specifically! So you see, she has something very special planned for you!"

"What about Father, does he know about this?" Java felt eerily calm in this moment.

Claret looked away and sniffed, holding her head up high. "No, he doesn't know, but when he sees how beautiful I have become, he will understand. Oh don't ruin this moment for me Java, you know how long I've wanted to be beautiful and you always have been! Let me see what it feels like to have the adoration and the envy of the masses! You wouldn't begrudge your mother that, would you?"

Java said nothing, but stared at a point past her mother's head. She would never see Mim or her Father again, her life was over and all because her mother wanted something that would fade over time anyway. She allowed them to lead her up to the platform. There were already 5 girls ahead of her, all crying and pleading with their mothers to reconsider. It was funny, Java thought. There are no fathers bringing their daughters up here to be sacrificed to Hera.

Java watched as each girl stood on the platform alone except for the things her family had provided to go with her. Some had a mountain of possessions, while others had little to nothing.

The first five girls were consumed instantly in a flame of fire, the only thing remaining was a black scorch mark where they had been standing.

The mother that stood there without a word of complaint or show of any emotion, received instant beauty, her face changing in an instant. You could still recognize who she was, but any flaws she had had, were now gone. A nose too long, a chin too short, eyes too close together or too small, bad skin or a hairline too close or too far. It was all corrected in a flash.

For the mothers that could not hold their emotions and cried out when their daughters were taken, they were punished by remaining the exact same, so you can imagine that not many cried out.

When Java's turn came, she calmly stepped onto the platform and her new clothes and jewelry were piled up beside her. She was trying to be strong, but when she thought of Jace, her face instantly crumpled while tears flooded her eyes. She would never see him again, her future mate, the father of her children that would never be born.

She sobbed now, holding herself tightly about the waist and biting her bottom lip to try to retain some little dignity in these, her final moments. She looked up into the night sky and she could barely make out the brilliant stars battling for supremacy against the bright lights of Gilden. She imagined that Jace might be looking up at those same stars at that very moment, thinking of her and she whispered "Jace, I love you, I hope you know that." Then, uncharacteristically, she whispered a quick, but fervent prayer to the Consulate, "Please help me!" She then closed her eyes and waited for the flames to claim her.
**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE**

"And we're done!" Olen pounded the last nail while Asa, Thorn, Hemlet and Jace spread the last of the pitch over the boat, completely waterproofing it.

They stood back on the scaffolding and craned their necks trying to take it all in. The pod was just so big! The ramp leading up to the only door in the pod was fully 25 feet across and 25 feet long starting on the ground and gradually rising until it got up to the door. The door itself was 25 feet wide and 25 feet high and it was so thick and heavy, Jace could not begin to imagine how they were going to close it once they all got inside.

There were many stories and stairs inside the ark with compartments galore; the food storage unit alone was massive.

Secretly, Jace hoped that his father was wrong about a flood coming soon because he had big plans for his life. He wanted to get married to Java and have a family and get to experience some things that he still hadn't had a chance to experience, living out here in the country with his parents. He planned to have a country home and a city home and he planned on him and Java having a lot of fun together.

He smiled a little as he thought of it and Asa said, "What you smiling to yourself about Jace? Thinking about Java?" He laughed a little as he teased him, but there was genuine affection in his voice and in his eyes.

Jace blushed a bit and started to climb down the scaffolding. When they reached the ground, Hemlet said, "You could do worse, Jace, for what it's worth, she's really pretty and I've always thought she was smart as well."

Olen clapped him on the back as they loaded up the wagon with their tools for the last time, hitched up the horses and began the trek home.

For the 100th time, Jace wished his father would allow them to purchase a HAC so they wouldn't have to walk or ride horses everywhere. It was so old- fashioned.

"You have my blessing son, if Java is the girl that you want to mate with. Your mother and I both think that even though she wasn't raised to worship or even believe in the Consulate, she would still make you a fine mate."

Jace smiled at his father in relief. "Really? Thanks dad, that's great to hear and I can tell you, it's a load off my mind! Now it's only a matter of convincing her parents and we'll be good to go, but that's still a little ways off."

Olen looked at Jace as they drove across the valley towards the homestead. "How much time do you think we have son? I mean, we just completely finished the pod! The Consulate could tell us to go in any day now. I would hate for you to go and leave Java behind and I'm sure she wouldn't want that either."

They were nearing the house as Olen was talking and they saw Rene running to meet them across the plain. Olen snapped the reins and the horses broke into a trot that swiftly closed the distance between them. Rene was crying hysterically and Olen stopped the wagon and jumped down to fold her into his arms. She was trying to talk and he wouldn't let her, but made her get up onto the wagon while he drove the rest of the way home, giving her time to get herself under control. The others were very quiet with concern; they'd never seen Rene this upset before.

Once home, Olen walked Rene into the house while the boys quickly unpacked the wagon. When they joined them in the house, Thorn and Hemlet's wives Islen and Rae were there as well. Their eyes were red from crying and Thorn and Hemlet went and sat with them to comfort them, while Jace and Asa sat across from Rene and Olen and they all turned to Rene expectantly. She had gotten herself together enough to talk, but she held Olen's hands tightly as she did so, looking only at Jace as she spoke.

"Claret called me today, over the ComNet. I hardly recognized her, she looked so..." Rene paused, searching for the right words. "Different." She shook her head, then looked back up at Jace. He was frowning at her, trying to understand what she was talking about. Rene just blurted it out. "She sacrificed Java to Hera in exchange for beauty!"

Jace continued to stare at her, but his expression had changed to one of shock and disbelief. He started to shake his head and then he went to the ComNet. "Java!" He said into it with a shaky, but strong voice. The CNS lit up and began connecting to Java's personal CNS. The lights continued to flash and then Java's voice came over the unit announcing that she was not available and to contact her at a later time.

"Aunt Claret!" Jace said, and the ComNet connected to Claret's personal CNS which was answered almost immediately; but not by the Aunt Claret they all knew, this Claret was beautiful and confident. She beamed into the CNS but then her smile faltered as she recognized Jace's horrified expression.

"How could you?!" He shouted. "I was going to ask her to come with me! She was going to be my mate! How could you sacrifice your own daughter, kill your own child?!" Jace was standing at the CNS with his fists clenched, Olen and his brothers had come to stand beside him and Olen put his hand around Jay's shoulder, squeezing him in a supportive hug.

Jace couldn't look at Claret's beautiful face anymore. She had wilted a little under his verbal assault, but now she drew herself up and lifted her head as she spoke. "Hera demanded it of me and who am I to say no to the goddess? You worship your Consulate and have built that monstrosity out there in the Valley of Shinar in obedience to their outrageous demands, why should I be any less obedient to the goddess I serve?"

Claret's voice had grown stronger as she spoke and her eyes had taken on a cruel gleam. "Do not presume to question me about my beliefs or about what I do with MY CHILD! She was mine to do with as I saw fit and you will respect my decision!"

Here she sat back and took a deep breath then smiled at them beatifically. "Anyway, it's too late, the deed is done. It was nice speaking with you Jace, but I have parties and engagements to attend. Good-bye!" With that, Claret broke their connection and the CNS went dark.

Jace continued to stare at it for a moment and then he turned and ran from the house. Thorn started to follow him, but Olen stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Let him go son, he has to grieve in his own way. He'll be back and he will need our love and support more than ever."

Then he turned and spoke to the rest of them. The men were silent and the women were crying quietly, "This world is a wicked and evil place and there is much misery. We finished the pod today, so we should begin preparing to transfer our things from here to there. The work should help to get our minds off of this awful turn of events, at least for a little while."

Olen sighed heavily as he went over to Rene and pulled her into his arms. They all sat there for a while, grieving quietly until the ComNet signaled again. Olen spoke to answer, "Olen's House." The CNS lit up with the other-worldly beauty of Hera, and the family gasped in surprise. Olen got up to stand in front of the screen, but she spoke first.

"I need to speak to the boy Jace, I have a proposition for him."

Thorn got up directly to go find Jace while Olen spoke, "He's not here right now, but his brother just went to find him, I am Olen his father. Is there anything that I can help you with?"

Hera's beautiful face morphed into a sneer as she looked at him in disdain. "No, I only want to talk to the boy and I need to speak to him ALONE! Since he is not there, tell him that I will call back in exactly one hour from this moment." With that, she broke the connection and the CNS went dark again.

Everyone looked around at each other and Rene got up to turn on some lights as it was beginning to get dark outside. "I think I'll put together some dinner," She said as she started for the kitchen. "In all this excitement, I haven't had a chance to prepare anything."

"We'll help." Said Islen and Rae, as they went into the kitchen with her.

In just moments, Thorn came back in with Jace in tow. It was obvious he had been crying, but now there was the glimmer of something else in the back of his eyes and in his body language that spoke of a tiny bit of hope.

"She's calling back in one hour." Said Olen, coming over to him. "Why don't we eat something in the meantime while we wait."

Jace took a deep breath that seemed to reach all the way down to his toes and then nodded.

"She said she only wanted to talk to Jace, remember?" Asa spoke up.

Jace jerked his head around and looked back at his father. "What does that mean?" He whispered, as if speaking any louder would shatter the fragile web of hope that had begun to ensnare them all.

"We don't know, son." Olen said, but we'll be nearby and don't worry, you're never alone, the Consulate is always here."

"Where were they when Java was being sacrificed to some false god?" Jace asked morosely.

Olen and Rene exchanged a look, but neither of them broached the subject, yet Asa said, "They were right there with her! When the Consulate allows anything bad to happen to anyone, trust and believe that the end result is for good, even though we may never see that result. It's called having faith!" There were reluctant nods of acquiescence from some and silence from others.

After that, a light dinner was quickly prepared and set out and everyone ate silently, with frequent, furtive glances at the clock over the fireplace. As the time for the call drew near, Olen stood up and said, "Come, let's go into the outer atrium and give Jace some privacy." To Jace he said, "When it's finished, you know where to find us." Jace nodded and remained seated as the rest of them filed out.

When the time came, the CNS chimed exactly on schedule and Jay rose to answer it. "Olen's House." He spoke clearly and calmly.

Hera looked him over and said, "You are Jace I presume?"

"Yes." Jace replied shortly.

"I have a proposition for you." Hera said.

Jace flushed with anger, and said, "You and I have nothing to talk about! You have nothing I want and I...."

Hera held up her finger and wagged it back and forth, tsking him impatiently. "Look!" She said, and the screen changed to a shot of Java in a cell. She was sitting on a simple cot with her back to the wall and her knees drawn up to her chest.

Jace leapt closer to the screen, "Java!" He called out loudly.

The screen switched back to Hera and she chuckled briefly. "You Lyrans can be so entertaining at times. This is simple; you can have the girl if you destroy the escape pod that you and your family have worked on so diligently for the past 200 plus years."

Jace's eyes bugged out and he started to speak, but Hera held up her finger again.

"You have exactly one week from today to give me your answer. If your answer is no, she will be killed immediately; but if your answer is yes, destroy the pod and on the day you destroy it, the girl will be delivered to you unharmed."

"But why me?" Jace asked, "Why not just ask my father?"

"That is all." Hera said without answering his questions.

The CNS went dark and Jace was alone, but the hope that had only been a mere hint of a whisper, was now full blown, in living color hope! "Whoo- Hooo!" Jace yelled as he jumped up and punched the air enthusiastically. His family came running in to see what all the noise was about and when they saw his face, they reacted immediately, all of them asking questions at once. Jace waited for them to quiet down, and then said with quiet fervor, "She's alive! Java's still alive!" His mother came to him and hugged him tight, smiling though tears still fell.

Everyone was in a celebratory mood except for Olen, who stood back with his arms folded, waiting for the initial excitement to wear down. Once everyone realized that Olen was not joining in the celebrations, they quieted down and looked at him expectantly.

"What did she want?" Olen asked simply.

Very matter-of-factly, Jace said, "She wants me to destroy the pod and in return she'll give me Java back, alive and well!"

"And you don't see any problem with that?" Olen asked. Jace stopped and looked at his father in confusion, "Surely Dad, you wouldn't trade Java's life for the pod? I mean, we built it once, we can build it again, it's just wood!"

Olen shook his head and said, "But do we have time for all that Jace? It took us over 200 years to build the pod, if we destroy it to the point that they want us to, it will take at least half of that time to re-build and by then, it may be too late!"

The veins on Jay's neck began to stand out and he clenched his fists in anger. I'm not going to just stand by and let them kill Java! Not when I have the power to do something about it, and your arguments about the flood don't matter 'cause you've been preaching that SAME message for over 200 years and NOTHING HAS HAPPENED!!!" He yelled the last part in his father's face. "How do we know that it's not going to be another 200 years, huh? We trust the Consulate," And here he sounded a little sarcastic, "And they just what, miraculously rescue her?"

"They miraculously rescued us, or have you forgotten that already?" Olen asked.

"No, of course not, but that's different because we _worship_ them, but Java does not."

Olen sighed and put his hand on Jace's shoulder. "Look, Hera gave you a week to decide, so let's just all sleep on it and maybe things will look at little clearer in the morning."

Jace nodded, just glad for the moment, that somewhere in the world, Java was alive and well.

Everyone went to their separate quarters and Jace went to his and laid down, but sleep would not come. A determination began to grow within him, that he could get Java back, tonight, single-handedly by just going out to the site on his own and destroying the pod. That way, it wouldn't matter what his father said, it would be too late for him to do anything about it.

Getting up, he quietly dressed and tiptoed out of the house. Saddling one of the horses, he led it out of the stable and mounting it, trotted quickly off the homestead into the valley.

The night was lit up by the bright moon and stars and Jace had no trouble finding his way to the pod. Once there, he climbed the scaffolding that was still there, not going all the way up because he didn't want to be too far from the ground if the scaffolding collapsed when he destroyed the pod.

His heart pounded in his chest as he placed his hands gently against the side of the pod, closing his eyes and listening for the familiar hum in the wood that told him he was connected with it. There was nothing. He frowned, then tried again, bending his neck until his forehead made contact with the side of the pod, sending out vibrations from his hands into the wood, but it was as if the wood was dead to him. He opened his eyes and straightened, looking down at his hands, then climbed down the scaffolding and knelt on the ground. Digging his hands into the ground, he immediately felt the familiar hum that told him he was connected with the living things in the field. He reached out towards the ground under the pod, willing the ground to shake and tremble. His concentration was intense and he heard the ground groan under the strain he was putting on it as the soil shifted under his hands and the shifting spread out until it seemed that the whole area was shaking and in turmoil. There was a loud crack and he glanced up to see the ground open up under his hands. He willed the crack to widen as it went towards the pod, but when it got to within a few feet of it, the crack stopped and refused to widen anymore. The trembling continued, but Jace was starting to lose control of it and the ground under and around him started shaking, threatening to swallow him up.

Jace leapt to his feet, disengaging from the ground and the trembling stopped, but the crack was still there, evidence of what he had tried to do.

Frustrated and angry, Jace looked up at the sky and silently asked the Consulate why? Tears gathered in his eyes as he just stood there, gazing up, waiting for an answer, but knowing that none was coming. He felt very alone and he thought of Java and knew she was probably feeling the same way.

Dropping to his knees, he let go and sobbed, his hands digging once more into the ground, but this time in sheer anguish and agony.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up, expecting to see his father or one of his brothers, but a stranger knelt beside him.

Jace jumped in fear and almost fell over backwards, but he caught himself with his hands. "Who are you?" Jace asked, afraid in spite of the man's friendly face.

"I am General Victorel and I have come to answer your questions."

Jay had heard of the General and knew that he was a member of the Consulate, but this man just looked like an ordinary human being. He was dressed plainly, like a farmer, and there was nothing extraordinary about him, but in spite of that, for some reason that he couldn't explain, Jace believed his words and in his desperation he reached over and grasped the General's arm imploring him, "Please save Java, I love her, I want her to be my mate!"

General Victorel laughed and said, "Yes Jace, I know and Java will be on the pod with you when it is time. Do not worry about her, she is protected."

Jace felt relief flow through him at the General's words and so he asked another question that had been burning inside him for many years. "Why are you destroying Lyra and everyone in it with a flood? My father says that you love all of Lyra, but that doesn't seem like a very loving thing to do."

The General smiled and helped Jace to his feet as they began walking together through the valley, back towards the house. "There are evil forces at work in the world, that have conspired to destroy Lyra with a flood; and because there is so much violence and wickedness, Lyrans are very miserable. That is why we are going to allow the flood to happen; that is why we are going to allow the world to be destroyed. We could stop it quite easily, but Lyrans would continue to suffer for many long years and their suffering grieves us immensely. Since we are allowing their destruction, we assume the responsibility for it as if we had done it ourselves. That is the way of the Consulate, to take responsibility for the actions of all of its creatures."

Jace nodded in understanding.

The General continued, "Time is short and things will begin happening very rapidly, but for now, you must help your family finish stocking the pod with provisions and get ready to go. You have less than a week before you will enter the pod. Do not trouble yourself any further for the Consulate will see to everything, you must learn to trust us, for we are the only hope for all of Lyra."

While the General had continued speaking, Jace's heartbeat had gone back to normal and a deep calm had come over him, which seemed to deepen even more until Jace was struggling to keep his eyes open. The next thing he remembered, he was waking up at home in his bed. He lay there for a few long minutes, wondering if he had dreamed the whole thing.

When he went out to the pod site later that day with his family, the crack that he'd made in the ground was still there, but it seemed smaller than he remembered it and no one else paid it any mind.

For the rest of that day and into the next week, Jace diligently helped his father, Asa and his brothers load up the pod. They all, with the exception of Asa, kept giving him side long looks as if they were waiting for him to snap, or to see if he really was okay with them not destroying the pod and rescuing Java. Jace didn't tell anyone about his encounter with the General, mostly because he was so ashamed of his behavior that night.

On the last day of that week, which happened to be Hera's deadline, they had just loaded up the last of the provisions, run the last check on the water and electricity, and made sure that the sewage system was working properly.

Olen turned to Thorn and said, "It is time to get the selected animals onto the pod."

Thorn nodded and climbed the scaffolding until he was at its greatest height. Closing his eyes, he stretched his arms out. For a long while, it seemed that nothing was happening, but then they heard a faint trumpeting that sounded very far away. At some point, the ground began to tremble and Hemlet and Jace looked at each other and grinned; Jace thought Thorn's talent was so much cooler than his.

In the next moment, two lions, a male and a female, broke through the tree line headed directly for the pod. Right behind them were two tigers and then two jaguars and so on, until the entire cat family was parading in a line up the ramp and right into the pod. The parade seemed endless as animals kept marching in, most of them two by two, but some of them in groups of seven.

Olen took out his personal ComNet unit and began capturing the images and sending them out over the global network. He figured if people could see that the animals were getting on the pod, then maybe they would follow suit and join them.
**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**

On Mount Olympia, Hera was sitting in her favorite chair by the window, watching the pod through the CNS in the conference room along with everyone else. In the beginning, she had been confident that Jace would bow to her demands and so was everyone else. They had seen him the very first night, come to the pod and they thought he had been about to destroy it right then, but their surveillance had gone down for about an hour and when it had come back up, Jace was nowhere to be found and the pod was still there, whole and completely untouched.

The days had gone by and it didn't look as if Olen and his family were even having any discussions about destroying the pod or rescuing the girl.

Tobias was the one to have the smirk on his face now, but he still didn't say anything.

Now the last day for the deadline had arrived, and as Hera watched, the animals began to file into the pod by two's and seven's with only Thorn's talent to guide them. Her eyes narrowed and her teeth were clenched tightly, but she held her peace all through the long night, until the last animal was on the ship, which was as the dawn turned the sky pink the next day.

By that time, Olen and his family's deadline was past. They watched as Olen and his family stood there together calmly, Jace's face, the most peaceful of them all.

"Kill the girl in the slowest and most painful way imaginable," Hera said through clenched teeth. "Capture every moment and then send it to them so they can see what they have done by daring to defy _me_!"

She spoke to no one in particular, but Pan got up to see that her wishes were carried out, but in moments he was back.

"She's gone!" Everyone looked at him as if he'd spoken a foreign language. "The girl! She's gone!" He repeated.

"But how?" Z asked, half rising from the table. She was here on Mount Olympia, she couldn't have gotten out by herself and they couldn't have...."

Tobias started to chuckle and then his chuckle became a full blown laugh. He laughed so hard that he had to wipe his eyes. "Oh you think you're so good and so smart!" He said to Hera, and then abruptly he was deadly serious, all the laughter wiped clean from his face. He hit the table with his fist so hard they heard a crack. "All of our planning gone up in _smoke_ because you had to play the big, bad, scary goddess! You think you're so much better than the rest of us! Well, it's a good thing that I have the final plan already in place because I _knew_ you were going to fail!"

He looked around at all of them at the table and said, "It's time. The weapon is ready and we are going to bring their little escape pod down!" He turned to Z, "I know I said that we wouldn't need full power on the weapon to do what we need to do, but in order to break that thing apart, I'm going to have to go at her full blast, all the way to 100% and maybe a little over."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Asked Lenora, who all this time had been sitting with her feet propped up on the table, watching them.

"It will be dangerous for everyone but us!" Tobias smiled and then rubbed his hands together with relish. "All I need is approximately a week to make the adjustments to the weapon and then we'll take everyone out, Olen and his little family too!" With that proclamation, Tobias rose to his feet and made his way down to the lab to make his final preparations.
**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**

When Olen began streaming the images of the animals going into the pod, people had started to come out in droves. Some drove their HAC's and others rode horses and camels. Neighbors that lived nearby in the valley walked up to see the spectacle. Many people brought their lunches and some enterprising persons set up booths in the valley where people could buy food and drink. When darkness began to fall, someone strung lights up around the pod and in the valley, and another group began to play music. People started to dance and drink and things began to take on a festive air, but Olen and his people paid no heed to the crowd. People took images of themselves with the marching animals, Thorn with his arms outstretched, and the pod in the background, while others began setting up tents and lighting campfires. Before all the animals were in the pod, the valley was filled with people who had come to see the spectacle.

"Olen! Rene!" Claret and Thomos waved them down as they hurried over to where they stood watching the animals file into the pod.

Rene grabbed Olen's hand and held it tightly, for she feared that she would say or do something to Claret that she might later regret. Claret didn't seem to sense the tension around the family at all, but Thomos was ill at ease, not able to meet anyone's eyes.

"Well you didn't tell me you were having a pod party!" Claret enthused as she simpered and preened. "Do you like my new look Rene? Isn't my hair divine?! It's so thick and lustrous! My skin has never been this smooth and my eyes! Oh look at how long my lashes are! They're like little tiny fans!"

Claret went on and on about herself and they could tell that Thomos was more than a little embarrassed.

Rene interrupted, "Where is Mim?" She asked.

"Oh she's around here somewhere with some of her little city friends. You know ever since Java left to go to the goddess, she's just been so pitiful! You would think they'd be happy for her, celebrate her rise to glory, so to speak!"

When Rene stared at her with a look of horror on her face, Claret quickly added, "Oh but of course I miss her terribly too!" She sniffed and wiped a non- existent tear from the corner of her eye.

Thomos cleared his throat and decided to speak up and save them all from more of Claret's inane chatter. "Olen! That son of yours really has a way with animals, getting them to go into the pod like that."

Olen smiled and looked up at where Thorn stood on the scaffolding, his arms outstretched over the line of animals that moved steadily up the ramp and into the pod.

It was getting later and later, but instead of the crowds going home or settling in to sleep, they got rowdier, the dancing and drinking kicking up a notch until clothing began to come off and the scene turned lurid.

All night long, the animals filed into the pod and the people played. Olen, Asa and the family stayed close to the pod, waiting for all of the animals to get on board.

As the first rays of dawn touched the valley, turning the river into a golden stream, a pair of badgers, the final two animals, ambled up the ramp and onto the pod. Olen looked around at his family and at the crowd of people that had gathered and he climbed up on the scaffolding to address them one last time.

"Citizens of Lyra, I implore you, come with us into the pod! The rain _will_ come and cover all of Lyra and the only safe place for anyone will be within the pod!"

"We'll be right here when you get tired of smelling those animals Olen!" Someone called out.

The crowd laughed and someone else said, "Can I have your house since you're gonna be a pod-dweller now?!"

There was more laughter and Olen shook his head in sorrow. He climbed down from the scaffolding and gathered his family together to go into the pod. They all began walking towards the ramp, but stopped when Asa did not come with them.

"Aren't you coming into the pod?" Olen asked him.

Asa shook his head, a very serious look on his face.

"But, you helped us build it!" cried Thorn, unable to believe that Asa was choosing to stay behind.

"You said you believed!" Olen said, looking at him as if he suddenly didn't know who he was.

Then, right before their eyes, Asa began to change. His eyes began to glow, then his face, and as the glow spread to the rest of his body, he grew in height until he was above the treetops. Giant wings unfurled from his back and lightning ran through his body in dizzying bursts. The entire crowd gasped as one as they gazed up at him in wonder.

Olen and his family were dumbstruck that their lifelong friend was really an Etherael from Aeriel.

He flashed to the door of the pod and hovered there and suddenly, next to him stood Java, looking a little disoriented.

Jace bolted from his family and ran to the ramp and at the same time Java screamed out, "Jace!" and ran down the ramp straight into his arms.

There was a scream in the crowd and looking around, they could see that Claret had fallen over in a dead faint.

Mim and Java's father left her on the ground to race over to Java and smother her with hugs and kisses. Everyone seemed to be talking at once and happiness and relief were in the air.

"Will you be my mate?" Jace asked Java sincerely as her father hugged her close.

Java looked up at her father and he simply smiled and nodded his consent. She turned back to Jace and with a huge grin said, "Yes! I want to be a pod-dweller too!"

They all laughed and then Olen and Thomos shook hands and hugged.

"Take care of my daughter Olen."

Olen looked at his old friend and said, "If you come with us, you can see to that yourself. There's more than enough room for you and your family!

Thomos smiled through the tears shining in his eyes, looked around and then back at them. "There are just a lot of things I need to see to, but we'll see each other again, I'm sure of it."

They shook hands once again and then Olen looked up at Asa still hovering by the door and said, "Was it you that protected us from the Minotaur?"

Asa smiled and said, his voice sounding out over the valley in melodious tones, "Yes, my real name is Azazel and the Consulate sent me to help you and protect you as you built the pod."

Olen and his family wept joyfully as they passed into the pod, wondering and exclaiming aloud over the provision of the Consulate. Entering in, they turned and stood in the doorway and waved at the crowd and the crowd waved back.

Once they were inside, Asa flicked his hand at the massive door and it slowly swung shut, closing flush to the side of the pod as if it had never been there, and the family of Olen was sealed inside.

In a flash of glory, Asa disappeared and the revelry turned up a notch as the people waited for the rain.
**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX**

One week later: "You don't think Olen and Rene will mind us staying at their house while they're out do you Tom?" Claret asked as she smoothed a shining curl behind her ear and looked at him from beneath her lashes.

"No, Olen told me that we could have it and use it as our country home when we want to get away from the city for a while."

Thomos did not even look at her when he spoke and Claret's face fell a little. She frowned as Thomos' other children from Kara and Debra, two of his other wives, ran through the yard screaming and playing. She could see Deb, with a baby in her arms, and Kara, sitting together in the gazebo talking quietly. Thomos was staring in their direction and Claret wanted him to look at her.

"Tom, why don't we go back to the city, just the two of us?" She suggested brightly, "Kara and Debra can look after the children and we can have a little free time of our own!" She smiled at him in what she hoped was a winsome manner, but Thomos just shook his head as he got to his feet.

"You go on back to the city, Claret, I'm going to stay out here for a while with Deb, Kara and kids.

He started for the door, but Claret rushed over to forestall him with a hand on his arm. "Tom! Don't you love me anymore? Don't you think I'm beautiful?!"

Thomos looked at Clara with a mixture of hatred and pity on his face. "I didn't mate with you for your beauty Claret, I have those two for that." He nodded his head towards the women in the gazebo, then he turned back to Claret. "I mated with you because I needed someone with a head on her shoulders, someone that wasn't so emotional all the time and didn't let little things reduce her to a puddle of tears. I mated with you because you seemed to have some sense!" He looked her up and down, then said, "Well, it looks like whatever sense you had is gone, and now, so am I."

With that, Thomos walked out of the door, but Claret simply took a small hand mirror out of her pocket and said to herself with a smile "We'll just have to find someone who appreciates this face!" She gazed into the mirror a moment more, wiped away a tear that was falling and went to get ready to go back to the week long, pod party.

Back at the pod, the party was in full swing. With Olen and his family sealed inside, no one was there to halt or slow the tide of wickedness that flowed into the valley. The entire week had been one long orgy and the pod was covered in rotten fruit and vegetables that had been thrown at it, while shoes, discarded clothing and refuse, littered the ground around the pod.

People began to taunt Olen and his family, "How long you gonna stay in there Olen? Is this your family tomb?"

"Don't worry Olen, after a month or two, we'll get some axes and get you out!"

"Oh no, it's raining! What are we gonna do, we're all going to drown!"

No one seemed to notice that the normal light breeze had turned into a strong wind. Laughter and more laughter followed the taunts until someone pointed at the sky and said, "Look at the clouds!!"

Normally, the clouds were light and very few, but now they were so dense and thick that they covered the sky.

The mob quieted down and some people began to gather their things to head home. More and more of the clouds gathered in the sky until no more blue was left and the sun was covered. For the very first time, it was a little dark out while it was day.

Gradually, the clouds in the sky turned gray, then darker gray and finally black. Lightning began to flash from the dark sky and thunder echoed off the hills in what seemed an endless roll.

The wind kicked up another notch and suddenly the clouds began to churn, gathering speed until countless whirlwinds touched down and began tearing up the ground, trees and houses.

People began screaming and they ran to the pod and climbed the scaffolding that was still erected there. They banged on the pod and screamed, "Olen! Olen! Open the door! Let us in! You were right, you were right! Let us in Olen!"

Some began to pray to their gods to save them, holding their images and falling prostrate to the ground in supplication.

Then the rain began to fall. First a few scattered drops and then it fell harder in sheets of water that drenched everything and everyone.

More people tried to climb the pod while their camels and horses bolted and ran away. The whirlwinds multiplied, tearing the ground up even more until from the depths of Lyra, water began shooting upwards to join the water that was coming down.

For days the rain continued to fall with the same intensity. The seas and the rivers overflowed their banks and covered first the valley, then the streets and then it began to creep up the walls of the cities.

People were doing everything imaginable to survive. Some who had leisure craft to ride on the Crystal Seas got into their boats to try and ride out the storm, but the waves were too fierce and high and the boats capsized, throwing them into the rising waters.

Some people climbed the hills to higher ground, trying to escape the rising flood, but after a couple of weeks of the same intense, pounding rain, even the hills were under water.

At the pod, the scaffolding was broken by the storm and washed away and only a few people who had climbed to the top of the pod were still there, clinging to it for dear life.
**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN**

Back on Mount Olympia, the Nephilim watched the carnage take place. "How do we destroy the pod Tobias?" Nim asked as they watched the pod rise with the waters, and begin to float in the storm.

"I'm going to open the weapon up to a higher strength and direct the lightning right at the pod. That should break it up and then it will sink like all the other boats." Tobias answered.

Nim nodded and Tobias turned the dial on a small device he held. The wind howled even fiercer and more whirlwinds, water spouts and hurricanes began to form all over the place. Mount Olympia shuddered and for the first time, there was fear in the eyes of the Nephilim.

"Are you sure we're safe up here?" Lenora asked, clutching herself around the waist in fear as they watched the world wash away.

"I'm sure," Said Tobias confidently. "We're in control, remember? If things get too rough, I can always turn the weapon down or off."

Everyone nodded in relief and sat back to watch the world disappear beneath a canopy of waves.

"The pod doesn't seem to be suffering any ill effects." Said Z.

"I can see that." Said Tobias shortly, " There is only one thing left to do and that is to turn this thing all the way up, open it to the fullest extent and throw more lightning at the pod."

Z nodded and everyone gave their silent consent as Tobias turned the dial for the last time all the way to the right at its highest setting.

Suddenly, Mount Olympia shook and the water that had been underneath their window started to rise even faster.

" _We 're_ going to be under water in a minute if we don't stop this thing!" Said Nim tightly as he held his catmonk in his arms.

"Just a few more minutes," Said Tobias, "I don't want anything to happen to us anymore than you do, so just trust me, I have this under control."

Nim sighed and sat down beside Lenora and tried to relax, but the rest of them stood at the window and watched the rain descend.

Suddenly two whirlwinds came down and began swirling around their tower. Everyone moved back from the window as the whirlwinds surrounded them, making the tower sway. There was a loud crack and everyone jumped, then water began to trickle from the ceiling and onto the table and Hera stared up in horror as she saw a large crack running across the ceiling of their fortress.

"Turn that thing off Tobias!" She shouted as she stared upwards.

Tobias nodded, his face grim and he turned the dial all the way to the left so that the weapon turned off; but nothing happened. The winds did not lessen and the rain did not cease to pour, in fact, it seemed that it increased even more.

"What happened Tobias?!" Z shouted. Tobias looked around wildly and without answering, bolted from the room.

The rest of them only paused for a second and then raced after him, following him down to the lab. Once there, they watched him fiddle with the dials on the machine, frantically running to and fro, looking at the screens and data.

"What can I do for you Tobias?" The machine intoned in its calm, sexy voice.

"Turn it off, turn everything off!" Tobias yelled at the machine, while he frantically pounded commands on the keyboard.

"Turning off." The machine said, but the lights continued to flash and blink and the storm outside raged on unabated.

"Nothing is making sense!" He yelled, "The thing has gone haywire, I've lost control of it!"

The Nephilim stared at one another in fear as the tower began to reel to and fro. They grabbed hold of whatever they could in the room to stabilize themselves, but no one could keep their feet under them.

The animals that were in the cages screeched, adding to the cacophony of the winds that got louder as the roof down in the lab began to leak water. Tobias looked up at the ceiling, and said, "If the roof is leaking water, then the floors above us are already flooded! We've got to get out of here!" He quickly rushed to the door, but it wouldn't open.

"We're trapped down here!" Screamed Hera.

"Lor! Save us!" Tobias cried, but there was no answer from Lor or any of the dark horde.

Pan looked around frantically, "We're all going to die too! There'll be no one left but those Consulate lovers in the pod!"

As soon as he said those words, the ceiling caved in and tons of water came crashing down on them, crushing them all in an instant. At the last, their superior powers couldn't save them and the world ended just as Olen had said.

Lor and the dark horde flew up above the world to watch until Lyra looked like it had in the beginning of its creation, just a ball of blue.

"What are we going to do now, Oh Most High Lor?" Drex asked. Lor narrowed his eyes in thought as he watched the lone escape pod rocking to and fro on the boisterous waves.

"Since Tobias was unsuccessful in eliminating the Lyran scum that still lives inside the pod, we will have to wait until this is over."

He gnashed his teeth together in sudden fury, "I almost had them! I almost destroyed them all! But they have to come out of that pod some time and when they do..." He left the sentence hanging, but he pounded his fist into his hand as if imagining that he were pounding on someone.

"All of our Nephilim, all of the Lyrans that we controlled are gone, the only ones left are the Consulates people!" Merc said as he looked worriedly at Lor.

"I know," Lor replied stiffly, but they will procreate as Adon and Alyss did before them, and when their children are born, we will take control of them and start anew! I am Lor the Destroyer and this time, I will not fail!"

I am still waiting for the Consulate to fulfill their promise and come down here to make the trade, themselves for this stupid world, because that is really our only hope for destroying the universe. Until that happens, we have time to plan!" And he glared cruelly at the tiny pod as they watched the blue ball turn.
**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT**

It was silent in the pavilion on Aeriel, as the universe watched the beautiful blue and green ball, dissolve back into a mass of turbulent blue. A cloud of sprites came and engulfed General Gabriel, landing on his shoulders and bringing his mind fully back to Aeriel.

"That was sad and interesting all at the same time." Azazel said to the general.

General Gabriel turned to him and asked, "What was it like, being down there, working with them, eating their food, breathing their air, being material in every sense of the word?"

Azazel looked at his friend and said, "It was amazing! I've never experienced anything like it before. Maybe you can go with me the next time we are needed on Lyra so that you can experience it for yourself.

General Gabriel nodded in agreement, then turned back to watch.

The pavilion began to fill up with Etheraels and Azazel sat up and said, "The Consulate is about to make an announcement."

General Gabriel nodded as they watched the pavilion become packed with wall to wall Etherael in answer to the telepathic call of the Consulate. The pavilion stretched for hundreds of miles and was situated in tiers so there was always room for everyone.

In time, the Consulate appeared in the center and General Victorel looked around, his very gaze demanding silence. "I am going down to Lyra as a Lyran."

Murmurs and rustling could be heard as the Etherael puzzled over this latest development. Since Lor's defection and the second creation of Lyra, there had been nary a dull moment.

General Gabriel became the spokesman for the Etherael's questions. "You mean you are going to pose as a Lyran as Azazel did?"

General Victorel shook his head. "No, I am going to actually _be_ a Lyran, become one of them."

"Why would you do that?" Asked General Gabriel.

General Victorel addressed the Etherael's question, "Lyra belongs to Lor right now, he won it fairly from Adon. In his grip, the world will suffer and perish but I am going to purchase it back from Lor."

"Purchase it with what?!" Asked the general.

"I am going to purchase it with myself."

Everyone looked at the Consulate in puzzlement, "What does that mean?" the general asked.

"It means that I am going to go down there to die as one of them. My death is the only thing that Lor would accept in exchange for the world of Lyra."

"But, we have watched the inhabitants of Lyra die and there is no coming back from it. The life goes out of them and they turn into dust again as if they never were! You would allow this to happen to you?! Who will take your place on the Consulate? Will the universe cease to exist or will we still go on through the power of The King and the Advisor?"

The questions that the Etherael host had tumbled from General Gabriel's lips one after the other, and he himself was astonished at this turn of events.

General Victorel smiled gently as he said, "My death is the only thing that Lor wants and the only thing that he will accept in return for the world of Lyra. I brought you all here to inform you of what is going to take place so that you will have time to prepare yourselves for the ordeal ahead. I know that you have many questions about this, but only trust in the Consulate as you have been doing all of your lives.

Right now, there are many of you who still have some sympathy for Lor, but watch and learn of the consequences of opposing us, and believe me, when this is done, there will be no question in any of your minds about whether Lor was right or wrong.

I am not going to Lyra today, in fact, it will still be a few millennia before I go, but when the time comes, I want you all to be at peace with what I do."

With those words, the Consulate vanished back to the throne room and the Etherael Host broke up into groups to talk about this new turn of events and wonder aloud at what it all would eventually mean.

Draya was quite sorrowful and asked, "What will become of us, what will become of the universe?"

General Gabriel was even more solemn than usual as he replied, "Draya, everyone, you heard what General Victorel said, we simply have to trust that they know what they are doing!"

Azazel nodded in agreement with Gabriel, "Yes, I do not think they would let anything happen to any of us. Do not forget they are omniscient as well as omnipotent, they already know how this thing is going to turn out."

"So why do they not tell us?" Asked Lancing as he folded his wings along his back and settled into one of the tier chairs.

"I think," Said Charel, "That the there are some lessons to be learned in watching the process unfold on Lyra. If they gave us all of the answers, we would not actually use our reasoning powers and it would probably be less exciting if we already knew the ending."

"Who needs exciting?" Mourned Draya, this whole thing started out exciting and has only been one dreadful turn of events after the other!"

"I thought that you sympathized with Lor?" Puphf boomed at her.

"I thought I did too, but everything that has happened cannot be better than life here on Aeriel! After watching him destroy almost an entire planet of living beings, I am inclined to think that he has lost any sense of reason that he had when he was our leader!"

No one had any reply for Draya's declaration and even the sprites with their twinkling lights that usually cavorted about General Gabriel's shoulders did not seem quite so spritely.

"Look everybody," Azazel said, "I have been down there and lived among them and I trust the Consulate even more now than I ever have before."

"Why is that?" Lancing asked.

"Because," replied Azazel, "There is something life-altering about going through really bad experiences. If you do not believe in the Consulate, it is very hard and very scary, but if you DO believe in them, it is simply a wondrous experience as you watch them work on your behalf! Do you remember how peaceful Olen always was, even when it looked like things were falling apart?a All he did was talk to the Consulate, then leave the problem with them, knowing that somehow, they would take care of it and they never once let him down!"

"Yes, but it does not always turn out so great!" Said Draya, "Remember Adon and Alyss' first two sons when Lor got the older one to actually kill his little brother?! That whole scene was horrific! I cried for days behind that and I thought that Alyss was never going to get over it!"

"But it did turn out alright, did it not, Draya?" Asked General Gabriel.

"How so?" Draya asked, her leaf arms folded across her undulating leaf body.

"They had many more children and the joy of having them, of caring for them, teaching them and raising them, helped them to move past their son being killed."

Draya still was not convinced and said, "I hear what you are saying General Gabriel, but replacing one child with another does NOT make up for the loss of that child and I know that even though I have never had any children!"

General Gabriel and Azazel looked at one another helplessly, neither of them knowing what else to say to help Draya with the way she was feeling, but Charel said, "Draya, I think you are missing the point of this whole exercise, I think we all are in a way."

"What do you mean Charel?" Asked Azazel.

"They are _supposed_ to be experiencing death, sorrow, suffering and all that comes with evil in all its forms! The consequences of evil HAVE to be seen, heard but especially FELT! If the Consulate shields the Lyrans from every bad experience, they will miss the lesson and the point will be lost. Even _we_ are experiencing the consequences of evil, and even though it is second hand, we must remember that this is a lesson for the entire universe; we must never lose sight of that."

Draya fluttered her leaves in the light, warm breeze and formed a dancing, little whirlwind as she laughed out loud. "Thank you Charel! I HAD forgotten what this was all about! I had lost sight of the point of the trial because I had gotten so caught up in Lyran life, but you are right and I believe we all needed to hear those words again!"

"Just think of it though," said Azazel, "If we can so easily forget where all of this is leading and we were here from the beginning of Lor's defection, can you imagine how hard it must be for any Lyran to understand the truth of this thing? Especially with Lor and the dark horde down there spreading lies and making everyone believe the worst about the Consulate!"

"I had thought of that very thing," Said Lancing, "And even though I do trust the Consulate, I do not know how any good can come out of this for the Lyrans. WE might be alright in the end, but the ones down there who do not believe in the Consulate at all, or believe lies about them, I just do not see how it will turn out well for them. And I tell you, 99% of Lyra believe something about the Consulate that is absolute rubbish!"

Azazel laughed as he said to Lancing, "You guys really have been watching Lyra quite a bit! Your language has become quite Lyran to say the least! Rubbish indeed!

Maybe we should do something else for a while to lift our spirits, sing some songs or go to the gateways and visit some other worlds. We can always rewind Lyra to see what we have missed!"

Enthusiastically, everyone agreed and they flew up to bright space where the gateways to the worlds was, choosing to shelve Lyra for the moment; yet it never truly left anyone's mind as the gateway to Suri, Lancing's world, flashed them like lightning two thousand light years away.
**CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE**

The world of Lyra rose from the flood waters looking quite different than when she went under. Where before there had been gentle, green, rolling hills, there were now huge, bare, rugged mountains and deep crevices and valleys. All of the gems, gold and silver were buried far beneath the surface by layers upon layers of rock and soil. The technologies, art and advances that the people of Lyra had enjoyed had been obliterated without a trace.

Where there had been the beautiful Crystal Sea, the flowing Havailah and Tigri Rivers, there were now oceans that seemed to go on without end. Where all the land before had been connected, now there were oceans of water that separated the land masses; but the biggest change of all was that Lyrans no longer lived to be over 900 years old.

When Olen and his family came out of the escape pod, there was no vegetation for them to eat. They survived on what was left in the pod and the Consulate then gave them permission to add animals to their diet. This helped to shorten their life span drastically and the advances they had time to make before the great deluge, they no longer had.

The deluge had also destroyed part of the atmosphere that protected Lyra, so that the seasons were more pronounced and much harsher.

Lor the destroyer and the dark horde took full advantage of the changes and hid themselves even more behind the god's of the peoples own making, so that the people truly worshipped Lor instead of the Consulate. Centuries upon centuries passed with only a very few who remembered the Consulate and remained faithful, and from behind the scenes, Lor held the world in his iron grip! Until one day, Victor showed up!
**CHAPTER THIRTY**

General Gabriel sat in his customary place in the pavilion along with the other inhabitants of Aeriel and the universe, watching events transpire on Lyra. Kings had come and gone, nations and civilizations had risen and fallen, and through it all, he saw the handiwork of his former friend and leader Lor, in the suffering and death that the Lyrans endured.

Azazel and Charel sat on either side of him with all of the universe gathered around, oblivious to anything else but the happenings on Lyra, because 33 ½ years ago, their beloved General Victorel had gone to Lyra, and now things were coming to a head.

"I want to go down there!" Azazel suddenly exclaimed.

"As do I!" Gabriel agreed.

"We all do!" Came from all around them as the other Etherael voiced what they all desired.

The King and the Advisor appeared in their midst and The King said, "We hear your desire and in the past, we have commissioned some of you to go at different times since Lyra's beginning to help them.

When General Victorel first went to Lyra, and became Victor, a good number of you went down with him to proclaim to the world the news of his arrival, but very few heard or even heeded the announcement.

Right now is a crucial time for Victor for he will need strength to go through what he is about to endure, yet only one of you may succor him. The rest of you may go and bear silent witness to his ordeal, yet you may not interfere.

I am going down now and you may come with me. The Advisor will remain here until such time as he is needed on Lyra. Come! The hour is approaching!"

With those words, The King flamed up high, long and wide, engulfing all of the Etherael and then they all disappeared, only to reappear on Lyra, hovering above a small dark garden where Victor and his closest friends were.

Lor and the dark horde surrounded Victor, pressing down on him, whispering hideous things to him and pulling the strength from his body. A black, heavy, dense haze had gathered and rested on him, weighing him down to the ground and it looked as if he were going to die right there.

"General Gabriel, go to him and give him strength for this final test!" The King commanded.

General Gabriel went forward in a flash of light straight down to where Victor half knelt and half reclined on the ground in the garden. At his approach, the dark horde fled, leaving Victor where he was on the ground. He was weak, his face pale and covered in bloody sweat and tears and his spirit was troubled. The dark haze that surrounded him did not dissipate at the general's arrival and Victor was too weak to even lift up his head.

Then General Gabriel said, "The King has heard you, Victor, I am here to give you strength." General Gabriel then laid his hand upon Victor's head and power flowed from his body and into Victor. The color then came back into his face as the bloody sweat disappeared and strength was returned to his limbs. Victor took a deep breath and then got to his feet.

"Thank you General Gabriel, I sense the presence of The King and the presence of the host, I know that you will be with me through these final hours. It is almost over."

Victor then smiled at the general and they talked with each other for a few moments until they heard a disturbance in the garden.

"The mob is coming for me." Victor announced.

General Gabriel nodded sadly, "Yes, do you want me to stay with you?"

Victor shook his head and smiled, "No, this is a road I must walk alone." With those words, he turned to go back to his friends who lay sleeping a short way down the path.

General Gabriel stood and watched as the mob converged on Victor. He saw Lor had gone into their midst, urging them on, with the entire dark horde riding within the Lyran mob, speaking and shouting through them and making them do things that ordinarily, they would not have done, surrounding Victor and pressing in upon him.

General Gabriel knew he could not interfere, but on his way back to The King and the rest of the Etherael Host, he flashed forward between Victor and the blood-thirsty mob without shielding himself or his glory.

Upon seeing him, his unshielded brightness made them all fall to the ground as though dead, and the dark horde momentarily scattered; but then General Gabriel disappeared from their view and rejoined the rest of the Etherael and The King in the next dimension. They watched silently as the next few hours dragged by.

The haze that surrounded Victor never left him, but grew blacker, heavier and denser with each passing hour. His head and shoulders began to bow, and as the end neared, they placed a physical weight upon his back, but by that time, he could hardly stand. The Lyrans thought he could not stand because of the weight they placed on him, but it was the black haze they could not see, pressing him down to the ground.

The haze around Victor grew and grew until the hillside they planted him on was dark as midnight. The King along with the Etherael host could see through the haze, but they knew that Victor could no longer feel their presence, the haze was too thick, too dark, too dense and solid.

"What is that black haze that clings to him?" Charel asked.

"It is the evil of the entire world." The King answered as they watched the haze begin to melt into his body.

His flesh began to turn gray as the black haze seeped into his pores, permeating his entire being with every struggling breath that he took. Victor continued to breathe the evil in, soaking it up with his very flesh until it was all gone from the atmosphere. As he took the last of it in with his final breath, he cried out, "It is finished!" And then his head dropped forward onto his chest and he died.

When his head fell, Lor and the dark Horde erupted in glee, exultation and victory! The host watched them as they cavorted about on the hill where Victor hung between Aeriel and Lyra, laughing and pointing.

The host was silent and sad; sad that their commander in chief was dead and sad that their comrades had been the ones instrumental in killing him.

There was silence as the The King took them home to Aeriel in a blaze of glory. No one sang or spoke, but they sat in the pavilion in stunned sorrow that their beloved General was gone, and the sounds of quiet weeping could be heard throughout.

"It is not worth it." General Gabriel finally spoke, "It is too much, this evil and death." He looked at The King with tears in his eyes. "Those of us who ever supported Lor, or wondered if he was right about evil being better than what we have, wonder no longer!" As he spoke, his voice gained strength. "We, the Etherael Host, will ever be faithful to you, the Consulate, so we ask you to end this trial now, end the evil and the suffering and let Aeriel go back to the way it was before all of this got started!"

The King answered the host and said, "I am glad that you have come to the conclusion that you have come to, but you must understand that things will never be the way they were before this trial began. Life in the universe is forever altered because the knowledge of evil has been seen, heard and felt by every creature ever created and through evil, death has entered the universe and changed the way you see life.

I know that you do not understand the purpose of this right now, but by and by you will see everything clearly."

"Our understanding will not matter if Victor no longer exists." Azazel boldly spoke up. "We do not want to continue on without him, he is a part of us that cannot be replaced or forgotten."

The King nodded and said, "I understand and you are right, Victor is an indispensable part of the universe."

"But he is dead!" cried out Charel, as if he could not contain his anguish any longer.

"Trust!" Thundered The King in a voice that shook the pavilion, "Only trust and believe! Can you do that?"

"Yes!" The Etherael cried out as one, "We trust in you, we trust in the Consulate!"

"Then be at peace and know that we have everything well in hand!" With that, The King vanished back to the throne room, but took General Gabriel and Azazel with him.

Back in the pavilion, everyone began talking about what was going to happen, still sorrowful about Victor's death, but hopeful with the words that The King had spoken.

Someone opened the VS in the pavilion and they zoomed in on the cave where Victor now lay. There were soldiers stationed all about the cave and it was quiet and somehow peaceful.

"Why do you think they have soldiers there?" Asked Draya as she settled herself into a solid square.

"I heard their leaders say that they were afraid his friends were going to come and steal him away, then say that he was still alive and had never died, so they stationed soldiers around the cave to keep them away," answered Charel solemnly.

"Look! There's General Gabriel and Azazel!" Lancing cried out.

They saw them as twin comets, streaking down through the atmosphere in a blaze of fire, going so fast that when they stopped, they caused Lyra to quake. They did not veil their glory and the brightness of their light caused the soldiers guarding the spot where Victor lay, to fall down as if they were dead.

"What do you suppose they are doing there?" Puphf boomed. He had been blue ever since the universe had watched Victor die, but now he alternated between blue and green with a leaning towards yellow, signifying the hope that had sprung up within him. No one answered him, they all waited tensely, watching to see what General Gabriel and Azazel would do.

There was a huge rock covering the entrance to the cave that had taken five men twenty minutes to roll into place over the mouth of the cave, but Azazel flicked at it with his finger and it easily rolled aside to reveal the dark opening. In a loud voice like a trumpet, General Gabriel said, "Victor! Come forth! The King calls for Thee!"

The watching universe gasped, as blue fire shot from the throne room, down through bright space, dark space and finally through Lyra's atmosphere, to enter into the top of General Gabriel and Azazel's heads. Those blue flames then exited their bodies through the hands that they held stretched out towards Victor and multiplying into thousands of tiny tendrils of light, pierced the skin all over his body. Where they touched him, the flesh began to glow blue, then the blue brightened more and more until it was no longer blue, it was just light, light that was brighter than the sun at noon. His body pulsed with light, the gray of his skin turned luminous and shone with the brightness of the stars. His hair that had been dark and lank, turned white as snow and when he opened his eyes, they were twin flames of fire.

General Gabriel and Azazel shouted in exultation, not knowing that their shout was echoed and re-echoed as the universe cried out in profound joy and relief. Back on Aeriel, there was much rejoicing as Puphf engulfed Lancing in clouds of sunshine yellow, his voice booming with joy as he cried out, "He came back to life! He is alive! Victor is alive!"

The sprites cavorted all around and Charel shot into the air and did a double back flip, then zoomed up high and came shooting back down to them in tight spiral loops shouting, "WHOO HOOO! VICTOR'S BACK! YEAH!!!"

Victor did not look the way he had as General Victorel, neither did he look the way he had as a Lyran; he resembled no creature that had ever been created. He became the first of a entirely new breed that was produced from the ashes of evil and death.

He sat up from his stone bed with a shout of, "VICTORY IS MINE!" And then he shot out of the cave, leaving a trail of flames that General Gabriel and Azazel followed all the way back to Aeriel.

Lor and the dark horde, who had been watching the cave with the soldiers, were at first dumbfounded and then furious. "I have been tricked again!" He roared, "They never had any intention of keeping their promise! Victor should still be dead, but he isn't and I am no longer the king of Lyra!" He raged about, scattering the dark horde with lightning bolts and mighty winds.

"Implant in the Lyran's heads that his friends stole his body! They cannot believe that he is alive, if they do, we will lose our control! GO!! NOW!!!" And the dark horde scurried to do his bidding.

Lor fumed and paced until suddenly Victor appeared in front of him. Lor flinched away from him, more afraid of _this_ Victor than he had been of General Victorel, even though he tried not to be. He knew what he had done and thought that some act of revenge might be inflicted upon him. Victor apparently read his mind and said, "Your time on this world is almost over Lor, you will have but a little while longer to torture and harass the inhabitants of Lyra, but when your time is up, rest assured that vengeance _will_ be exacted upon you and the dark horde in a way that will be most horrendous for you.

Lor raged at Victor, "I thought the Consulate was loving and forgiving! Revenge does not seem like the way to treat your enemies! Didn't you tell the Lyrans to love their enemies and to do good to those who hate you?"

He mocked and paced all at the same time, the sarcasm never leaving his tone and the sneer never leaving his face. "You are such a hypocrite and a liar Victor! And don't think that I missed the play on your name, Victor, Victory! Yeah, this whole thing was rigged to go in your favor from the very beginning, but guess what?! You have underestimated me! You made me a little too intelligent and I have some tricks up my sleeve yet! I know that you already know what they are, but you see, your foreknowledge _does not matter_ for I have devised a way to win no matter what!"

Victor smiled and said, "You are right Lor, I did tell the Lyrans to love their enemies and believe me, you and the dark horde are loved beyond measure. But there is still the matter of cause and effect. You _must_ face your consequences, there is no other way. And the consequences of evil as you well know, is death!

You are also right about us knowing all your plans and schemes, for we are the Consulate. I would advise you to give up now and let this trial come to a close, but I know that you will not. You will still do everything that is within your power to oppose us, for that is really all that you _can_ do, for you _are_ evil and you no longer have a choice."

Then Victor vanished and Lor was left with his thoughts, his rage and an unsettled, uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that began to grow. He had not known peace for many millennia, but this was something far worse than an absence of peace, it was the sure knowledge that all of his evil deeds, all that he had made Lyrans do, all that he had forced upon them and put them through, would come back to roost squarely upon his own shoulders and that thought was enough to drive him into a mad frenzy of activity, spawned for the express purpose of proving the Consulate wrong. He could do it! He had the intelligence and great powers! He wouldn't stop until he was finally successful and the Consulate knelt as HIS feet and handed the universe over for him to utterly destroy!
**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE**

The pavilion was filled as usual with visitors from other worlds as well as quite a number of the Etherael host. Puphf, Lancing and Draya sat front and center between Azazel and Charel as they watched General Gabriel command a contingent of Etherael on Lyra.

"Lor has really caused the Lyrans to destroy their world! Everything down there is a mess!" Said Draya. "Well, you know Lor's agenda Draya," Lancing said, his beak clicking crisply, "Destroy, destroy, destroy! That is all he has done since he has been down there."

Charel chuckled a little and said, "You know, I never thought about it until you just said it Lancing, but the Consulate named him Lor the destroyer and I guess that is what he became. He now has control of the ruling class of this age, and has implanted the same desire within them that he implanted in the Nephilim of old, the desire to kill all life."

Charel put his chin in his hand in thought. "They have come up with some schemes that would have been devastating; the only thing that has been keeping them from carrying them out to completion has been the presence of the Advisor along with General Gabriel and his army of Etherael that have been holding back the trouble and not letting it get out of hand."

"From the looks of things," Draya said, nodding her leaves in the direction of the VS, "The Advisor, General Gabriel and the small contingent of the host that they command are about to come back from Lyra!" The VS showed the aforementioned company headed for the gateway to Aeriel. "What do you think will happen then?" Draya asked, her dry rustling voice somehow managing to convey her excitement.

"We are about to find out," Lancing said as he looked up at the gateways where myriad of Etherael were already streaming through from Lyra with General Gabriel at their head. His friends hurried to join him in the air and all of the Etherael turned from the VS to hear what news General Gabriel would bring back from Lyra.

Azazel and Charel gave him the Etherael salute and they proceeded, one on each side of him, to escort him to the center of the pavilion. "I know you have all been watching," Gabriel began, "But the Advisor said that it was time for all of us to leave Lyra completely in Lor's hands." There were murmurings and rustlings from all sides at this pronouncement.

"So now, he will have complete and utter control?!" Asked Charel in consternation. "Yes," Gabriel nodded sadly. "The Lyrans have been fighting the Consulate for quite some time, wanting to have nothing to do with them, us or the laws the Consulate have set forth for their happiness and well-being. They have been following Lor and the dark horde, listening to them and doing all they can to carry out their schemes, even though those very schemes will mean their own destruction.

You have seen how Lor has gotten them to confuse their genders, so that procreation will cease, kill the offspring they do have, kill each other in war after war?" Charel nodded sadly, "Yes, we have watched them actually create diseases to give to the population to kill them off, poison their water supplies and the very air that they breathe!"

Draya was twirling in an agitated whirlwind and she said, "Lor has them so confused and crazed that they destroy themselves thinking that it will somehow benefit them, just like he did before with the Nephilim and the flood!"

General Gabriel nodded and then continued, "You are right. The Consulate in the form of the Advisor and with the help of myself and this contingent of the Etherael that I have brought back with me, has been protecting them from Lor and from the full consequences of their actions; but now the Consulate is about to pour out their wrath upon them by giving them what they have been asking for all along, to withdraw their protection from all that do not want it, which at this point is 99% of the planet, and to allow Lor to continue there uninterrupted."

Puphf had been listening to General Gabriel and watching Lyra all at the same time, and now he pointed one orange tinted, cloud finger in the direction of the VS. You just left and look at what is happening already!"

"Is that a nuclear missile?" Lancing asked as he proceeded to zoom in for a closer look at the projectile that was winging its way around the tiny globe to the most populated and prosperous area. "Yes, and we were afraid of this very thing happening when we left," Said General Gabriel. "But the Advisor was the one in charge and he said it was time, so we had no choice."

"Are there not still some Lyrans down there who believe in the Consulate?" asked Draya softly, as she watched the missile fly closer and closer to its intended target. "Very, very few," General Gabriel replied. "Even the ones that are in their "churches" that profess to love and follow the Consulate are doing Lor's will. They have what they call denominations, and they all think they were ordained by the Consulate, but the denominations are Lor's doing."

"Yes," said Puphf, "I remember when he set them up after the dark ages. There were a few people actually searching for the truth about the Consulate and to stop them, he took the truth they found, surrounded it with lies and then built walls around the whole thing and called it a church. Each of them had a different truth from the Consulate, but instead of getting together and putting all the truth together, then going on to find more truth, he divided them and pitted them against each other. Now they are all in competition to see who can get the most people on their side or who can come up with the best arguments using the book that the Consulate made for them, but it seems that it should be plain to see that division is Lor's thing!"

General Gabriel cleared his throat and everyone looked to him. He was gazing at Lyra, watching the nuclear device detonate, but it didn't go off on the ground as they thought it would, it detonated in mid-air.

"You know the things that you know, because you have been witness to all of this from the very beginning and from here, watching it happen on the VS, you can see both dimensions. You see Lor and the dark horde and how everything that they are doing affects Lyra, so it is plain to you."

General Gabriel then turned to them and continued, "But it is different for the Lyrans. It is different when you are born evil, and that evil clouds your judgment and gives Lor and the dark horde direct access to your mind, and all you can see is what is directly in front of you. All some of them know are the lies, some of them know no truth at all. So do not judge the Lyrans too harshly, they have absolutely no chance against Lor's mighty intellectual schemes."

It was quiet in the pavilion after General Gabriel's speech as everyone continued to watch Lyra.

"The nuclear device did not hit its target, so maybe they will be alright after all!" Said Draya. "The device was never supposed to hit the ground," General Gabriel said quietly, "It was meant to detonate in midair and disrupt their electrical grid so that none of their electricity will work."

No one said anything as they digested that bit of information, but gradually, the repercussions began to sink in and a horrified look came over more than one face, but it was Lancing who began ticking things off on his wingtips as he spoke.

"So, they will have no light at night, no clean water to drink or bathe in, none of their cars will run, none of their communication devices will work, they will not have any heat or air conditioning anymore, no way to get money from the banks to buy food, all of their computers will be useless not to mention the sewage system will completely fail!" Lancing clicked his beak in consternation and dismay. "They will not survive a good month that way!"

Draya had formed herself into the image of a leafy Lyran and her hands were covering her mouth in disbelief before saying, "They will become total savages, killing each other for scraps of food and any kind of water just to survive!" General Gabriel nodded, "The only ones that will not sink into barbarism are the ones that understand and believe fully in the Consulate; the rest of them will be fully controlled by Lor and the dark horde, and will be driven to insanity."

Azazel was disgusted and said, "I do not understand why the Consulate does not step in and DO something! It was clear millennia ago when Lor and the dark horde killed Victor, who was right and who was wrong between the two of them! I think they have let this thing drag on past prudence!"

General Gabriel looked at Azazel in shock, "Do you doubt the wisdom of the Consulate even now?!" He asked, Azazel looked chagrined and answered, "No, of course not, I guess I just do not understand the necessity for dragging this out for so long. I know there must be a reason, for the Consulate does nothing without purpose," He said the last part as if quoting a much spoken, worn out phrase, "I just wish I understood what their purpose was at this point."

"Maybe it is not about us understanding anymore, maybe it is about the Lyran's understanding." General Gabriel said patiently. "You do not think they are sick of their awful world and want something better?" Asked Charel incredulously, "I would be sick of it if I were living down there!"

"Have you not been watching?!" Gabriel asked, his voice sounding a little exasperated, "Lyrans are born evil under the reign of Lor, they do not know or understand anything! I do not know exactly what the Consulate have in mind, no one does, but I trust that as soon as it is time, they will rescue Lyra from Lor!"

"From what we have been seeing, most Lyrans believe that the Consulate are only going to rescue the ones that believe in them, and I have not seen anything to make me believe otherwise, have you?" Draya asked with a frown, looking around at everyone.

"I have not seen anything to the contrary, although that does not really seem quite fair, does it?" Puphf boomed loudly. "Look!" General Gabriel held his hands up to get everyone's attention, "This entire exercise has been one big lesson after another in trusting the Consulate! Before Lor's defection, it was simple because we knew nothing else but trusting the Consulate. After Lor left Aeriel, we had to learn how to trust them through the experiences of the Lyrans, as well as through our own experience of losing our beloved commander and then getting him back again!"

"Just look at them down there!" Charel's intense whisper interrupted General Gabriel, and everyone riveted on the VS. "The dark horde are everywhere and in just about everyone! They are covering the globe and once again, their goal is to destroy all life on the planet!" "That is what they DO Charel," General Gabriel said sadly.

"They do not look happy, even though they are laughing," Azazel commented as he watched his former comrades with his arms folded. "Look at Lor's face, he has had that same perpetual frown on it since he left here."

"That is because he knows that he along with everyone else that opposes the Consulate, is going to die! I would be frowning too if that were my fate!" interjected Lancing with a sharp click of his beak and claws.

"That makes me so sad." General Gabriel said as he watched the dark horde use a mob of people to mercilessly butcher other people as they all fought for some scraps of food in a dumpster. There were scenes like that all over the globe, people fighting over things that they felt were necessary for their survival.

"I cannot watch this anymore, it is too horrible!" Puphf said as he turned away from the VS. "If the Consulate does not do something soon, there will be no one left to rescue from Lyra. There has been millennia of death and destruction and I honestly do not feel that it was worth it. Especially Victor going down there, I do not think they can ever understand or appreciate half of what he sacrificed on their behalf!"

"So, do you feel, Puphf of Klowde, son of The King, that it was a mistake to allow Lor his trial to prove whether he was right or wrong about opposing the Consulate?" Victor's voice thundered over the pavilion as the Consulate appeared in the center. All eyes went to the Consulate that hovered in the middle of the pavilion. Victor never failed to draw looks of surprised pleasure and murmurs of admiration when he first appeared. He was the most beautiful creature in Aeriel or in the entire universe.

Puphf considered a moment before answering Victor's query. "Not a mistake, no, for I know that the Consulate can make no mistakes. I just feel that the price you paid was too high, your life for what; a world that does not know anything about you or even care to? You allowed yourself to be killed by evil in order to redeem a dying planet, but the planet is still dying and in a most horrible way!" Puphf shook his billowy head, "There are untold millions of Lyrans who have lived and died tragically just to prove Lor's pet theory wrong and there are untold more," And here, he pointed to the VS, "That will die at Lor's hand." His shoulders billowed up in what he meant to be a shrug, "It seems a complete waste of life, but that is just my humble opinion of course."

Victor nodded and the Consulate looked around on them all. The King seemed to be in a state of excited agitation, His flames crackling and blazing more than usual. There was a strange, fierce joy on Victor's face that shone through and the Advisor kept swooping around them as if he were waiting for something to happen, but couldn't quite contain himself while he waited.

Turning from the pavilion, Victor streaked upwards and telepathically ordered everyone to follow him up out of the pavilion into bright space, up to the Gateway to the worlds. Everyone was there, for while they had been in the pavilion, the Advisor had called to every creature in the universe and they had converged on Aeriel in obedience to his call.

Lyra's gateway was the smallest one there and whirled slowly in comparison to the others; but Victor pointed to it and it began to whirl faster. As it whirled, it grew, until the brightness of it easily eclipsed the other gateways. Victor continued to enlarge Lyra's gateway until it was without question, the largest one in bright space and when he was finished, The King said, "COME!" and in an instant he had flamed up to transport them all through the gateway to Lyra's atmosphere. Once in Lyra's dark space, the Etherael host seemed to blanket the sky with their brightness as they looked down on the Lyran world.

"Watch, listen and learn!" The King commanded them and then He tore through the thin fabric that separated the natural world of Lyra from the spirit dimension that they lived in. The Lyrans that were left on the planet looked up and cried out in fear, running for their lives to find someplace to hide from the brightness of The Etherael Host's light and from the all consuming light of the Consulate.

The King flamed up high and His flames were ice blue and higher than anyone had ever seen him go. He shot out in a flash to engulf all of Lyra in an instant, turning the entire planet into a blazing blue inferno. Then, just as quickly, He withdrew himself, and in his wake, there stood every Lyran that had ever been born, standing alive on Lyra's surface.

There was Adon and Alyss with all of their children which included the entire race down throughout all of Lyra's dark history. There was Olen and Rene with Jace and Java. There was Thomos and his wives and children along with Tobias and the Nephilim of Mount Olympia. Everyone that had ever been conceived of a woman was standing on Lyra's surface.

With the resurrection of the race, sanity and the pure language of Aeriel had been restored to everyone so that they could understand what was being spoken; yet there was a pronounced physical contrast in them that anyone could see. While most of them came back up from the grave the same way they went down into it, with the same diseased bodies and maladies that had killed them, there were countless others that came through the flames of The King looking exactly like Victor, shining, bright as the stars.

When The King ripped through the fabric between time and space, Lor and the dark horde stood exposed and finally visible to Lyran eyes. Lor cringed within himself as he saw all of the Etherael Host that he used to command, his best friends Azazel and General Gabriel looking at him and his handiwork. He couldn't bring himself to look directly at Victor, whose eyes seemed to pierce straight through him into the depths of his soul. It was at that moment that he understood that the veil of deception that he had spread over the entire world, the wool that he had cast over everyone's eyes, had finally been lifted, and today, the truth would be known and heard by all.

Without further delay, scenes began flashing across the sky via a VisionScope that was so large that it could be clearly seen and heard by everyone in the universe. The scenes opened with Lor and he saw himself in his former beauty and glory, bowing before the Consulate in adoration and utter joy. Scene after scene replayed itself as the inhabitants of Lyra watched in awe and wonder as the reasons for their horrific history became utterly transparent.

No time passed, for time was up and they now stood in eternity. Scenes from the fall of Adon and Alyss, the great deluge of Olen, the moment Victor swallowed up evil and his subsequent death, all the way up to Lyra's final death throes, passed before the wondering eyes of the Lyran race.

"Lor the destroyer!" The King's voice rang out over the whole planet, "The trial is ended! Come forth to render your true verdict of its outcome!"

Lor felt himself drawn up high into the air, and he hung there, suspended between the Lyrans and the hosts of Aeriel and the universe. "Speak Lor the destroyer and tell the universe, what you have learned from this trial of good and evil."

Lor turned and cast his eyes over the Lyran race. He saw those that he had held complete sway over and how miserable and sickly they looked. In contrast, the ones who had chosen to believe in the Consulate were happy, their faces beaming with unrestrained joy. Here was the witness that could not lie. Here was the proof that under his reign, death and misery ruled the day; proof that his way was not better than the Consulate's, and undeniable proof that he had been wrong to oppose them.

Lor suddenly felt the weight of many millennia of evil weighing heavily upon his shoulders. He had no choice but to speak and he could only speak the truth, so he clenched his fists and with a deep scowl said, "My original plan was to become like the Consulate, to become a creator in my own right, and to have my subjects worship me. The Consulate warned me many times about the outcome of pursuing this course, but I had to know for myself, I had to have proof!"

He scanned over his audience again, seeing the proof, the results of millennia of his own handiwork standing before him in the persons of the scrawny, diseased Lyrans and he felt very weary of it all as he continued. "In light of the proof standing before me, I have come to the conclusion that the Consulate has been just and fair in their dealings with me. They were correct in their initial assessment of the outcome of this trial and I should have listened to them and paid heed to their warnings, but because I did not I became evil, and even now, as I stand here before you, all I still long to do is destroy you all!" He turned around in the air, scanning the trillions upon trillions of the inhabitants of the universe, as truth continued to pour from his lips for the first time in many millennia.

"I have had no peace of mind since the trial began, and even though I now believe that the Consulate is all that is good, right, holy and pure, that knowledge does nothing for me! I see it, but I cannot embrace it, for I do not want to embrace it, and I do not want to have anything to do with goodness or anything else that the Consulate stands for! These things that I confess to you now give me no sense of relief or peace because of the deep-seated hatred that I bear for you. My soul simply burns with the longing to destroy everyone here!"

The continued scowl on Lor's face and his clenched fists left no doubt in anyone's mind that he meant what he said. Then Lor turned back towards the Consulate and ended his speech by saying, "So I welcome death, for I have seen that it is a release for Lyrans from their long, weary lives and my life has been longer and wearier than all of theirs put together.

Victor nodded once at Lor and the dark horde that stood with him, then lifted his arms and cried out in a loud voice, "Let the trial be ended! Those who have chosen to stand with Lor and the dark horde shall share their fate! Those who have believed in the Consulate to the bitter end will stand with us! Let it be done!"
**CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO**

"For Our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:29

Lor felt himself drawn down to the planet's surface and when he tried to rise from it, he was as bound to it as the Lyrans had ever been.

He then watched as the millions of Lyrans down through the ages that would not stop believing in the Consulate, no matter what he had done to them, were drawn up into the sky to stand beside them. Families that he had torn apart were reunited and for a moment, he caught a glimpse of the joy that would be theirs forevermore.

He then looked around at the ones that were left, the ones that he had used, deceived and tortured all their lives, who looked back at him in utter disbelief and hatred. Disbelief that he was not even an ordinary Etherael, that he was smaller, darker and less impressive than his bright counterparts, and hatred because he had deceived them and led them all to this point of no return.

"I don't think I want to die." Whimpered Merc, as he and Drex clung to each other in abject terror. The rest of the horde were doing something similar, and Lor turned on them, instantly angry. "Stop your sniveling and whining! Die like the dark horde of Lor that you are! The Consulate will have no mercy on you just because you look pitiful and beg! It will do you no good, so stand straight and tall and face your punishment!"

Then Lor drew himself up to his full height and shouted to the dark horde and all of the Lyrans that were left on Lyra with him, but especially to the Consulate, "I have won! I told you Victor that I had found a way to win this conflict and I have done it! Victory is _really_ mine, for death is who I AM, it is what I DO! I am the originator of it, I created it, it is my legacy!

You may destroy all of us, but our very dying, OUR DEATH, will forever stand and be a monument to the work that I have done here over the last six thousand years and there is nothing that you can do about that! Death will reign forever, because we will be dead forever!

"NO!!!!!!!!!" Hari's squeal of horror interrupted Lor's tirade as he pointed up to the sky. Lor looked up just in time to see The King and The Advisor shoot down and engulf the planet once again. They were surrounded by him and Lor felt him in every part of his being. He could hear the Advisor, whispering into his mind and he screamed in pain as he fell to the ground twisting and writhing, feeling the love of The King racing through every part of him, burning white hot as it made contact with the evil that permeated his soul.

He didn't know that dying and death would feel this bad, this horrible. He gnashed his teeth together to try to prevent the screams from coming out, but he couldn't stop them. He thrashed about, just wanting it to stop, willing to do anything to make it stop. He had never felt any kind of physical pain before, but right then, the Advisor was bringing back to his mind and allowing him to feel all the physical and mental agonies of every single Lyran that he had ever caused pain to over the thousands of years that he had plagued Lyra. He felt exactly what they had felt, each torture re-created in minute detail and with a clarity that was astonishing. He was sorry, so sorry. He'd never imagined that his victims felt anything like this.

Lor was aware that there were others around him going through a similar experience, but the blistering heat of The King's love, coupled with feeling every Lyrans emotional and physical pain was so bad that he couldn't think of the others, there was only room in his mind to try to endure what he was going through.

He didn't even have the luxury of going insane or passing out; every detail and nuance of every pain was crystal clear and intricately played out. His mind and body kept trying to reject the truth, but it would not be rejected. This was the wrath of the Consulate in its pure, unadulterated form, the consequences of his own actions poured upon him, unmixed with mercy. If only he had known!

The King was all around him, in him, through him. He was breathing Him in with every scream that wracked his body and the more he screamed, the more he breathed him in. The more he breathed him in, the worse the pain got. Unconditional Love, unending mercy and unfailing compassion surrounded him and he was powerless to resist it! He felt the evil in his soul writhe and recoil as The King swept over him in wave after wave of blazing fire. Each finger of flame, each lick of fire scorched and burned away a miniscule portion of evil and Lor felt each tiny bit of it in excruciating detail. He didn't have flesh that burned, but he thought that would be preferable to the razing that his soul was taking being in direct contact with the all consuming fire that was The King. There was nothing to shield his mind from the purity and holiness that surrounded him, and he didn't know how much more he could endure.

He did not know how much time passed, for time had ceased to exist or even matter. It could have been an hour, a day, a month or thousands of years. It all felt the same to him as he dwelt in the excruciating flames of The King. He felt himself being destroyed, little by little as The King consumed every part of him, and he longed for death; the sweet release that he had seen Lyrans given and he prayed earnestly to the Consulate to have mercy on him and allow him to finally die.

At some point, Lor realized that through the power of the flames, he could see himself clearer and clearer and he began to see just how ugly, twisted and malignant he truly was and for the first time he didn't like what he saw.

About that same time, he also made the connection that it was the evil in him that was causing him pain as it came into contact with the flames of The King. Before, he had been fighting the fire and holding onto the evil, but once he realized that by letting go of the evil, by cooperating with the flames, it lessened the severity of the pain, he stopped fighting The King and began to let go of the evil as much as he could. He found that letting go still caused him a degree of mental agony, but he could take that better than the futility and pain of resisting The King's irresistible love.

As he struggled for what seemed like an eternity, the pain began to lessen and Lor became cognizant of the fact that even though hundreds of millions of them had started out burning together, he was the only one left that was still burning. He closed his eyes and concentrated even harder on letting go of anything within him that was still evil and handing it over to the The King to be burnt to a crisp and destroyed, knowing that the more he handed over, the closer he would be to the sweet release of death.

It happened gradually. Little by little, the pain got less and less, as the fire of The King burned away the evil from his soul.

Finally, the pain became just a whisper and then it was gone and he opened his eyes and found the Consulate was there waiting patiently and expectantly for him to be able to speak to them.

"Am I dead?" He started off by asking. Victor laughed and said, "Not anymore! Welcome back Captain Lorelan!"

"You have changed my name again!" Captain Lorelan observed. "Yes, as you know, your name is indicative of who you are and who you belong to. You are Lor as you always have been and ever shall be, but the el has been put back to indicate that you are once again a citizen of Aeriel."

Victor paused in anticipation of Lorelan's next question.

"And the rest?" He asked.

"The 'an' has been added to indicate that you were and ever shall be, an integral part of the development of the Lyran race." Victor said with a smile.

Lorelan's head snapped up, "I remember that conversation that we had in the throne room so long ago." He said in wonderment. "You told me then that you wanted me to help with the development of the Lyran race and I said unequivocally that I would not!" Lorelan's eyes went wide as understanding dawned upon his mind.

"The will of the Consulate cannot be thwarted," The King said gently. It is a basic law of the universe, one that you have always known, but chose to forget at that crucial time.

Captain Lorelan breathed deeply, glad to finally be free of not only pain, but fear and to have peace once again. He looked around him and could see what he assumed was Lyra from where they were. It seemed that they were in a bubble of their own that floated up, high above the world.

"How long was I burning?" He asked.

"Just a little over a millennia." The King answered. "Everyone had to pay the consequences for the evil that they had committed others that they were holding onto and went unconfessed. They were each made to feel the pain, whether physical or emotional of their victims, which made them extremely sorry for their actions.

After that, I destroyed each person and they burned for a different length of time, but _they_ each determined how long that process would take by the amount of resistance they offered. I did not force anyone to let go of their evil, but dealing with the consequences of their lives greatly encouraged them to. You of course, took the longest.

Lorelan examined himself more closely. The lightning that used to run through him was again running throughout his body, but instead of being bright, yellow, golden light, it was brilliant, bluish white in appearance.

He turned to the Consulate, his mind full of questions. "Why am I not still dead? I thought that the second death was eternal?!" The Consulate laughed, even the Advisor could be heard chuckling invisibly around them.

"You experienced the first death the moment I withdrew my spirit from you back on Aeriel! What you have just gone through is the second death, which is simply a reverse of the first. The first time, you died to us, to love. The second time while in the bosom of The King, you died to self and to evil, and have come back into the realm of the living!

Death, any death, is a byproduct of evil Lorelan, which was your own handiwork. You chose to make it eternal or everlasting in your own mind and implanted that thought in the minds of the Lyrans as well. They thought that death was stronger than even the Consulate!"

Lorelan nodded, his chin in his hand. "Yes, I do remember thinking that if I could only destroy everything in the universe, even if I was destroyed in the process, then my work of death would forever stand as a legacy of who I was. If there were even one person that I could keep in the grave, then I would have victory on some level."

He closed his eyes and grimaced in distaste, a shudder running through his mighty frame. Thinking about his past life was not pleasant. He opened his eyes as The King continued to explain.

"Everything that we created has a beginning, but we do not, we are the only thing that is eternal, death was not and cannot ever be eternal; it was simply a tool in our hands."

Lorelan nodded and then chuckling said lightly, "The Lyrans called a lot of things eternal."

Victor laughed with him, "Yes, they had many things wrong," but that is as it was meant to be. Error, confusion, evil; do you not see Lorelan? It was all necessary in order to completely understand and appreciate its counterpart, which is truth, harmony and goodness."

The King spoke up, "We made Adon and subsequently, the Lyran race in our image outwardly, physically; but in order to understand and _fully develop_ all of our inner attributes such as forgiveness and mercy, they had to experience evil."

Lorelan pondered that and then said quietly, "Yes, before my defection, I did not know what forgiveness was because in a perfect world, there is never anything to forgive."

Victor nodded and smiled, "The same goes for mercy and grace, even justice cannot be fully comprehended without evil."

Lorelan looked at the Consulate with a smile and said, "So I did have a purpose all along, nothing that happened was outside of your will!"

The King and Victor looked at each other as The Advisor swirled around them. "Nothing can thwart the will of the Consulate, everything that happens is always within our will for we are sovereign and always in control. Once those facts are understood and believed, all fear and confusion vanish, and peace reigns supreme."

"It is amazing that the Lyrans did not see through my deceptions, thinking back on it now, you made the concept of death pretty clear with the change of the seasons, the dead of winter giving way to the life of spring; the way dormant, dry, dead looking seeds received sunshine and water and became plants and even a caterpillar dying in its cocoon and changing into a butterfly! None of the "death" involved was forever, it was only to facilitate the process of changing from one thing to something else!"

"They could not see it unless we gave them the sight to see it Lorelan," Victor said gently. "They were wholly evil as you were, but we left a spark within them that allowed us to connect with them. We chose certain ones to see things clearly and proclaim that good news to the rest of the world, but we did not allow most of the Lyrans to receive it until we came back at the very end.

You see, at any time, it would have been quite simple for us to convert the whole world by taking off the blinders that you had put on and allowing them to understand, just as we did at the end; but we wanted to give you every opportunity to make your case. We did not want you to be able to use as an excuse that you did not have enough followers or enough witnesses for your side, so we gave you almost everyone so that you, along with everyone else, could clearly see the true outcome of all this. We only chose a select few to witness for us, to be proof for our side.

Lorelan looked at Victor and asked, "But when the time came for the veil of deception to be removed, by then it was supposed to be too late!"

Victor shook his head, "At that time, it was only too late for the Lyrans to switch sides and be a witness for the opposing team!"

Then he declared, "We live in eternity and we created time! It is ours to command and to do with what we will. It is never too late for the Consulate!"

So the ones that you chose to witness for you, what is their function now?" Lorelan asked.

Victor beamed as he said, "They are rulers over worlds of their own; they truly have dominion! No matter how majestic the Lyrans become or what they attain, for their potential is now endless, there is absolutely no danger of them opposing us and becoming evil again, because they now know and understand all too clearly the consequences of that!"

Victor looked at Lorelan and said, "Do you remember the very first time that the Lyrans were created and developed their society, how they were allowed to develop in the perfection that we had created them in, without evil to taint them?"

Lorelan nodded. "Yes, I remember. We were still in Aeriel and I did not pay much attention to them, focused as I was on my quest, but I remember their society was well advanced and happy."

The King danced around them in flames of joy as if his excitement were overflowing, "Come and see! The difference between the first, the second, and the third creations are remarkable and most exciting!"

The King surrounded them and they were suddenly in Lyra's atmosphere, but it looked so different to Lorelan that he had a hard time connecting what he was seeing with either Lyra that he had known before.

"Look at them!" He breathed in awe, "They are magnificent! They are just like you!" He said to Victor in a voice filled with admiration and astonishment.

The King laughed, flames shooting up into the air while the Lyrans that were in their vicinity began to converge on their location excitedly. They flew up, hugged Victor and cavorted and played in the fire that was The King. They were not shy, careful or in awe of the Consulate, but treated them as one would a beloved parent. They surrounded them and the Advisor was surrounding them, filling the Lyrans with even more of their presence.

Captain Lorelan was astounded at the way they treated him, "They do not hate or fear me!" He said to Victor, as the Lyrans smiled and greeted him happily.

"No," Victor replied, "They now understand that all that happened to them was our doing and that you were just a tool in the hands of the Consulate, much as they would use a chisel or pruning knife. They no longer attribute anything to you, but praise us for the wonderful way things have turned out. Hate and fear no longer exist in the universe, but have been expunged along with all evil."

Adon and Alyss were among the Lyrans that joined their party and they also joined in the conversation. He looked at Adon and Alyss and said in wonder, "I can actually talk to you now, face to face."

Adon laughed and said, "Yes, we are now a part of your world and you are part of ours, never to be parted ever again!"

"Can we go with you as you take Captain Lorelan on a tour of New Lyra?" Alyss asked.

"New Lyra huh?" Captain Lorelan said, smiling and nodding in approval. "The name is fitting! Let us go see it!"

Their world was something that Lorelan had never seen before. There were beautiful buildings everywhere, bright, colorful and shining with an architecture that he could never have imagined. The buildings soared high into the air in graceful shapes and on closer inspection, he saw that the buildings were made from living trees and vegetation. He watched as one of the Lyrans inside a building waved his hand and the wall grew out into a spiral staircase with another room at the top of it. The trees and vegetation were of the natural, physical world, to be sure, but he could see that there was a presence that lived within them, as if they had spirits of their own that responded to the Lyrans commands. It was the most beautiful display of natural and spiritual that had ever been witnessed.

"Look over here!" Adon said as turning, they saw a group of Lyrans hovering over a group of trees. "Link to them telepathically, so you can share in their experience!"

Lorelan did as he was commanded and instantly, he was linked into New Lyra, at one with the entire planet as he heard it speak to him. "Welcome Captain Lorelan!"

"The entire planet is sentient?" He asked, completely amazed and in utter awe for there were so many questions he suddenly had and there was so much to explore, but he focused in on their current location and heard the Lyrans speaking to the trees, commanding them in the way that they should grow, so that fantastic shapes began to rise into the air. The buildings that were already there shifted their shape to link seamlessly with the new buildings to form one continuous whole.

They became one, but at the same time retained their differences, each tree lending its own unique form, color, fruit, leaves and bark to the process to make something that was utterly one of a kind. There were no two buildings alike. They watched the fascinating process for a while before Lorelan looked around and asked, "Where are the children, I do not see any."

"Their race is complete," Said The Advisor, "They no longer need to reproduce themselves as they did before the New Age began. Now, whole groups of them can come together and their merger is more complete, but the purpose of their merging is not to replicate themselves, but to create an entirely new species; yet no one Lyran can do it alone, they still must work together to accomplish their vision.

The planets in Lyra's galaxy that were previously dead are now filled with the new life that has come from their work together!"

"Oh look!" Alyss said pointing up, "Here are some of your friends now, come to welcome you back into the land of the living!"

General Gabriel, Azazel and Charel, followed by everyone that had been part of the dark horde, flashed down from the gateway to where they were. Azazel and Gabriel didn't even stop, they each took one of Lorelan's arms and whisked him high up into the sky, laughing and hugging him all at the same time. They made a loop that only took a few seconds, and then they were back with the Consulate and the host.

We have a lot of catching up to do!" Said General Gabriel excitedly, "You look so different, but I would still know you anywhere!"

Azazel was just as excited, "I cannot wait to hear your story!" He cried out as he hugged Lorelan once again.

"You watched the whole thing, what do you mean hear his story, you have already seen it," Charel exclaimed.

"Yes, but watching it and drawing my own conclusions about what he is thinking, and hearing it from Captain Lorelan, head of the Subtherael hosts himself are two different things!"

"Wait," Lorelan looked at Azazel, "What did you call me, head of the Subtherael hosts? What is that?"

He was suddenly filled with a sense of adventure and excitement that he had not known before. Here was something new that was being presented to him.

The King turned to him and said, "The ones formerly known as the dark horde are now your Subtherael Hosts. You are now a special rank of Etherael and your function is to live with the Lyrans, to learn from them and serve them in whatever capacity they might need. Lorelan looked around himself at the bright and shining world they were on, a world fully spirit and fully natural, a complete amalgamation of the two that allowed for so much more than either one by itself was capable of.

Captain Lorelan turned to Victor and said, "So this was the plan all along, you never intended for it to go any other way! There was no mistake in you creating me the way that you did and no mistake with evil coming into the universe and I have to say,"

Here Lorelan paused and gazed out on the busy, beautiful world of New Lyra and looked at Adon and Alyss, the amazing beings that were so different from how he remembered them, yet at this moment, more like the Consulate than he could ever imagine anyone being and said, "Your plan was most glorious, not only in the outcome, but also in its implementation! I bow to you in humble submission to your grand and perfect will!" And Lorelan prostrated himself at the feet of the Consulate.

Unexpectedly, the Lyrans along with everyone else that was there burst into song. Captain Lorelan looked up in awe, for in all of his long years leading the Etherael choir, he had never heard any music as melodious and beautiful as that which issued forth from those around him now.

They sang the song of Victor and as he listened, he knew beyond a doubt that everything that had taken place, all of the heartache and sorrow that he had caused, all of the hideous evil that he had wrought, the millennia of disappointed hopes and shattered dreams, disappeared into nothing in the light of the final, glorious, eternal outcome that had been wrought.

The End!
Or rather, the glorious beginning!

**About the Author**

I was raised in a loving, but strict Seventh-day Adventist home all of my life. The study of the scriptures was a daily part of my existence and even though I am no longer a Seventh-day Adventist, the intense bible study gave me an extensive knowledge of the Bible, and helped to shape who I am today.

I have three beautiful children, Christal Joy, Tiffany Rae' and Raymond Broussard II. I am also the grandmother to four lovely children, Brooklyn Janine, who bears my middle name, Annissa Farrah Rose, Sarai Gabrielle and Evalyn Renay. My husband Jeffery Gethers and I have been married for seven years as of this book writing and I reside in Antioch, TN.

I love to read, and writing is my passion, but I have never wanted to give the public fluff or trash, I always wanted to inspire them to know God better and to understand His purpose for our lives. It is my hope and prayer that this book has made a difference in your life.

I am currently working on my second novel. As yet, it is in the gestational stages and has no name, but I hope to complete it by the summer of 2017. I will keep you posted via facebook on my progress!
