Raj stood at the front of the chamber, facing the most uneasy alliance ever assembled. He nodded at Judas, who stood near the center of the crowd. His eyes moved quickly over the dead: the humans from Hell and the many who had come down from Heaven. This summit had one purpose: to prepare the defense of Earth.
Raj noticed the space between the guards and the humans from Hell: a bare strip of stone floor directly before him. No one stood in it.
“Gather closer,” Raj called.
No one moved. A human near the front folded his arms. One of the guards smiled at him with open contempt.
Raj looked from one group to the other. “I said closer.”
“They are monsters,” the human said. His voice shook, but he did not lower it. “They torment us.”
A low growl of agreement passed through the humans from Hell.
One of the guards laughed. “You didn’t complain when you were making others suffer.”
The human lunged half a step forward. Someone caught his sleeve.
Raj raised his hand. “Enough.”
The room quieted, but he could feel their animosity. He remembered the fury that had risen in him the last time he was in Hell. He took a deep breath, stepped down from the front, and walked into the empty space between them.
“Did they put you in Hell?” he asked the human.
The man’s jaw worked.
Raj waited.
“No,” the man said at last. “But they made it worse.”
“Yes,” Raj said. “They probably did.”
That answer unsettled both sides. The guard’s smile faded.
Raj turned to him. “And did humans exile you?”
The guard looked away. Raj waited again.
“No,” the guard said.
“So neither of you is innocent,” Raj said. “And neither of you gets to hide behind the other.”
No one answered.
“You can hate each other later if you insist on being useless,” Raj said. “But right now the whole earthly realm is in danger, and Hell is not being asked for opinions…”
A few of the humans stirred. Someone muttered, “Sure. As though they would listen to an opinion.”
“…it is being asked for soldiers,” Raj went on. He pointed to the strip of empty floor.
“Right now, this gap is where the opponent enters.”
Judas stepped first, moving into the open space beside Raj. After a moment, one human from Hell followed him. Then another.
Cristi gave one brief nod to his forces. A demon guard stepped forward, stiff with reluctance. His shoulder nearly touched the shoulder of the human beside him, who flinched. The guard’s face hardened. Neither apologized, but neither moved away.
Raj looked around the chamber. “Good. This is a beginning. Not peace. Not trust yet. The beginning.”
Then he climbed back to the front.
“There is an invasion coming,” he said. “If we leave gaps between us, we lose before the enemy arrives. We need angels and humans, those on Earth and those in the realms beyond it, to work together.”
“We have reports of what the opposition is planning. We have to hold the ground.”
“How can we do that?” Judas called out, a determined look on his face.
Raj noticed Michael leaning against the wall in the back.
“Michael,” Raj said. “How would you answer? How can we do this together?”
Michael straightened. His voice carried to every corner of the room.
“By the strength of faith,” he said. “Faith is evidence. Faith is purpose.”
A bitter laugh came from somewhere among the humans from Hell.
Michael turned toward it. “You object?”
A woman near the back lifted her chin. “Faith did not get us out.”
“No,” Michael said. “Because faith is not wishing.”
The room quieted.
“It is not hoping hard enough. It is not saying Yahweh’s name while keeping your fist closed around your own rebellion.”
One of the guards shifted.
Michael saw him. “You too.”
The guard stiffened.
“Do not stand there looking superior,” Michael said. “Humans did not exile you. You chose against truth. You chose it with your eyes open.”
The guard looked down.
Michael turned back to the humans. “Demons did not drag you here against your will. They may have tormented you. They may have hated you. They may have made your suffering worse. We know they did.”
A murmur went through the crowd.
“But they did not choose for you.”
No one answered.
Michael stepped forward. “If I leave the truth, I can be exiled too.”
That silenced them more completely than his anger had.
Raj watched several faces change. He saw them listening. This is where faith begins, he thought. You know it is true, and you don’t reject.
“Don’t flatter yourselves that Hell is proof you are special in some way,” Michael said. “Hell is proof that choices matter.”
A man near Judas said, “We suffered.”
“Yes,” Michael said. “You did.”
His answer came so quickly that the man blinked.
“And others suffered because of you. We saw that too.”
The man looked away.
Michael’s voice lowered. “Stop staring only at your punishment. Look at what your actions did. Then stand against the thing in yourself that did it.”
He let the words settle.
“That is faith. Not comfort. Not sentiment. Alignment. Belief.”
One of Cristi’s angels raised his voice. “And against the invasion?”
Michael turned toward him. “The same way.”
“With swords?” the angel asked.
“With swords when swords are needed,” Michael said. “But a sword in the hand of someone divided against himself is only another danger.”
Cristi gave a faint nod.
Michael looked over the whole chamber. “The enemy will lie. They will accuse. They will tempt. They will start by telling humans that the guards are monsters. They will tell the guards that humans are pets and favorites. They will tell every one of you the thing most likely to split you from the rest.”
No one moved.
“So how do we stand?” Michael said. “We know what is true. We must know it about ourselves first. We understand what Yahweh has revealed, and no one gets to rename it for us. No one gets to poison it, flatter it, bend it, or sell it back to us as wisdom. We accept the truth. Then the enemy’s accusations have nothing to hook into.”
He looked first at the humans, then at the guards, the Sons who had long ago become something called demons.
“You want out of Hell? Stand by truth. You want to defend Earth? Stand by truth. You want to survive what is coming? Stand together inside truth, or you will be taken apart one resentment at a time. If you cannot withstand this room, you will not withstand the invasion. Understand how humans were made. Understand how you were made. Understand how you were meant to stand together. That foundation must be laid by faith.”
He stepped back.
“Exactly,” Raj said after a pause. “On Earth, humans and angels may be unseen to one another, but that does not make either side unreal. We learn to interact. Then we defend our world.”
Angels and humans glanced at one another. The atmosphere shifted, thinning from animosity into reluctant silence.
Raj said, “Michael is about as clear as one gets. Now we look ahead. Jesus is returning to Earth and will coordinate from there. Before the action begins, people on Earth will have to readjust their thinking. So will everyone in this room.”
The crowd shifted, but no one spoke up.
“Hell will serve as support for Earth. That begins with cooperation between the realms.”
Judas nodded enthusiastically, his eyes gleaming. One of the guards slapped him on the back. A demon, Raj thought, then corrected himself. An angel. Judas gave a thumbs-up. His nails were chewed to the quick.
“Okay, we are going to match you up. If anyone lacks a partner, let us know. Humans from Hell will pair with humans from Heaven. Sons in Hell will partner with Sons from Cristi’s forces on Earth and practice sparring. The beings coming against us will do almost anything to destroy us. Don’t let a hole open around you.”
Someone raised his hand.
“Yes?”
Raj watched Cristi moving among the guards from Hell, nodding and gesturing reassurance. He hoped they were leaving behind the sullen attitude so prevalent there. Dark, selfish contempt from anyone would undermine them all. There was a choice: join or resist.
Raj turned his attention back to the questioner, who was shifting his weight from side to side like a boxer waiting for the next round. Raj nodded. The angel rose onto the balls of his feet and shouted his question.
“Who’s our opponent?”
“The opponent is from another galaxy,” Raj replied.
“Another galaxy!” shouted one of the guards from Hell. “There is only one populated galaxy. Yahweh made this galaxy for us.”
“The attacking galaxy was not made by Yahweh,” Raj said.
There was immediate silence.
Raj saw shock, disbelief, and anger on faces all around.
“But he said he created everything. We were there! We saw when he formed the Earth and made everything. We even watched when he breathed into his little favorite, mankind.”
One of the humans who had come down from Heaven stepped out from the edge of the room. Raj recognized him: Paul, the advocate and teacher of Jesus from the Church’s earliest days.
The room quieted as the crowd recognized him. Even in Hell, Paul’s name carried weight.
Paul spoke simply. “Listen. Jesus said that Yahweh made everything that was made. He also revealed that he himself was not made. That matters now. We are going to war with a maker of worlds, but not an uncreated one. Rufunous was made by Yahweh. His galaxy was not. He stole the material, and evil helped him finish what he had no right to begin.”
“This imitation of life was constructed as a weapon against Earth. That is why Earth and her supporters must think seriously and stand together across every realm. Rufunous knows humans and angels can be tempted. He knows because he chose evil himself.”
All eyes were on Paul.
He continued. “So we ask the questions that matter. How do we win? What are our strengths? What are theirs? What kind of planets did Rufunous make? Who are these sentient creatures coming against us? And what happens if we lose?”
Raj interjected, “Start with this: they have five planets, populated by android beings linked in groups of five. We will examine that shortly.”
Raj turned to Judas. “What forces do you have? How many in Hell are prepared to join?”
“Well, on paper, everyone,” Judas answered. “Ask almost anyone whether he would rather fight or stay in Hell, and he will swear left, right, and up and down that he will be the most devoted soldier ever. But there is a lot to do. It is much harder to change here than above. Hell reeks with surly resentment, and that is hard to overcome personally. I know.”
“That is why I am here,” Paul said. “I came to teach. Bring what you have learned in Hell. We will bring what we have learned in Heaven. Together we will examine the truth, and truth will give us room to move.”
Raj stumbled as someone shoved into his back. He turned and saw a human and an angel struggling, both furious.
“It may not be your fault I’m here, but you say the most tormenting things you can,” the human panted.
“You deserve it, you worthless filth.”
Raj grabbed one of them, and Michael seized the other.
The two spoke simultaneously.
“Name one weapon our opponents carry,” Michael demanded.
“Why are you in Hell?” Raj asked, staring into the guard’s angry face.
A stir moved along the side of the room. Some of the humans who had come down from Heaven began to leave.
One called back, “They are not ready. Stay in Hell, then.”
Paul stayed. He held out his hand to Judas. “Hello, brother,” he said.
Judas stood with his head lowered. At last he lifted his eyes as far as the outstretched hand.
“I’m so sorry,” he muttered.
“I hear you have been organizing things here, Judas,” Paul said. “I will partner with you, if you are willing.”
Judas raised his eyes and took the outstretched hand.
“I’m willing,” he said.
Paul grasped his hand. “Many’s the time I thought I deserved to end up here. We all do, to tell the truth. One thing I have learned is patience. We can do this.”
Judas glanced at Paul, and a slight smile crossed his face. “I have learned a good deal too. Fools, all. I can hardly believe I have a chance to join you. I did not even know about the galactic war, or space travel, or the future of mankind. I was obsessed with myself. That is where I have to begin: with overcoming myself.”
Paul laughed. “So true.”
The crowd broke up. Humans from Hell gathered nearly ten to one around the humans from Heaven who had remained.
Raj felt relieved. He had done his part. Now it was up to them. They had to make their way out of Hell before they could defend larger truths.
The guards moved toward the angels with Cristi and began to break into pairs. Michael and Cristi paired off, swords drawn, faces set, ready to demonstrate what the others would have to learn. Some of the guards looked surprised to be given weapons.
Raj gave the room one final glance. Chatter rose around him. Somewhere, he heard the name Rufunous.
He felt the familiar lightness around him as he began to ascend. Setting the meeting had been his task. The follow-up was not his. Jesus was returning to Earth, and Raj would help introduce him to the world. Let the others settle their differences in Hell, he thought. I’m out of here.