Unleashing God’s Magic
Maxwell, Gabriel, and Adele headed in the opposite direction. “He told me there’s another door closer to our destination.” Gabriel left out the part about Eshu’s betrayal. “It’ll be better for us to use, but I don’t know where it leads.”
Maxwell instantly knew something wasn’t right. The suggestion that a door further away was easier triggered red flags. He didn’t question Gabriel, though, continuing walking with Adele at his side, holding her tight.
She hugged herself, trying not to think of the horrors she had just endured. She was fearful of what the two would say if they knew what had happened. She licked her chapped lips, seeing if the taste of the demons was still on them. Luckily, it was gone. Only dry flesh remained where the snakes had slithered across her and down her throat.
Her wounds still stung. She had been cut multiple times, and salt had been rubbed into them. She had been harmed while fighting before, but to be tortured by those who hated her because of the demonic lives she had taken on Earth was far more painful.
Realizing she had stopped breathing, she inhaled deeply. The smell of sulfur was too much to stomach. Even though her company was unaffected by it, she moved her tattered sleeve to cover her mouth and nose. Suddenly, she fell to her knees and began coughing, the stink overwhelming her. Maxwell bent down, holding her lightly, as Gabriel examined her jerking body.
She started to gag and began to vomit, heaving black sand upon the ground. Her watery eyes begged Maxwell for help, but he knew he couldn’t. “You have to continue coughing to get it out of your system.” She nodded. Forcing herself to cough, the black sand began to flow, a black snake slithering out with it. It curled into a ball and watched Adele, its eyes fixated on hers.
“Hello again,” it hissed with a deep voice. Its tongue flicked toward her, its body swaying from side to side. She slowly began moving with it, following it with her head. Empty of expression, eyes fixed on the snake’s own, Adele was losing herself. Maxwell and Gabriel watched, horrified.
Maxwell moved to kick it, but Gabriel stopped him. “This is a skeleton she must face. If she doesn’t accept her magic, she will be doomed after we are gone. She’s accepted her sins, but she must embrace her being.”
As the snake’s black eyes began changing, flames grew within the color, luring Adele even further into its charm. “Come with me. Ssstay with me, child of God. I will keep you warm. I will love you.” It moved to rub the side of its face against her cheek in a loving manner, luring her deeper. Adele listened but didn’t move. It began to curl around her neck, slithering through her red hair, coming out on the other side of her face. “I will love you, sssweet woman.”
Adele’s eyes closed, and she whispered, “We are connected. We are not alone.” She shook her head and broke the spell the snake was placed upon her. Her fingers began to dig into the dirt. “Serpentine charmer, condemner of Eve.” The snake continued rubbing against the side of her head in a loving motion, tenderly caressing her skin.
To the surprise of the snake, Adele grabbed it and threw it, skidding it across the ground. Quickly stopping itself, it aggressively moved toward her. Calling upon deeply-seated powers, she swirled her fist in front of her mouth and blew, slowly opening her fingers. A white, dusty light surrounded it, forming a hand, the fingers wrapping around the snake, choking the beast. Her eyes never broke the serpent’s gaze.
“I am not Eve. I am not easily convinced,” she growled.
The snake’s tongue flicked out one last time before the magical hand dropped the dead animal and disappeared. Thrashing, the body of the snake began to change into a solid mass of black sand before breaking apart.
Maxwell moved to Adele, grabbing her by the arm and helping her stand. “I didn’t know I could do that.” She turned to him. “Did you know I could do that?” She was surprised and frightened. “Did you know I could do that?” The question was directed at Gabriel.
Gabriel smiled and nodded. “Adele, you are capable of doing many things.”
Maxwell began moving, forcing her to walk with him. “How did I do that?” she added, still staring at the outline where the snake had been. He could only smile and chuckle, shaking his head. He knew she was strong, and she knew she was strong. She could sense when demons were close, but the magic she had unleashed was not like anything she had ever experienced before. Her battle scars seemed to be a waste when she realized she could’ve been using magic to fight.
Parts of her body told many tales, secret wars she’d been in, and all of it left her somber. For a moment, she wondered if magic could remove the scars and make her as she once was, make her glamorous once again. She wasn’t even twenty-five and her body looked like an aged, battle-hardened soldiers. The physical wounds healed, but the mental ones were much harder to mend. Breaking from Maxwell’s hold, she walked alone and quiet.
“I’m Gabriel,” he said, realizing he hadn’t yet introduced himself.
His name drew her back from her thoughts. “The angel with the horn, right?”
He nodded, smiling. He was flattered at the fact he was famous on the Earthly plane. “Yes.”
“I thought all the angels hated those like Maxwell. Why are you helping?” She pushed her hair behind her ear and waited for an answer, continuing to walk.
Maxwell remained silent, walking between them.
“Not all angels hate the fallen. They’re still our brothers and sisters. We simply did what we had to do to keep the peace in Heaven. So much happened so quickly. Many agendas fed that war. Vanity, love, desire… They all came together to form those who eventually fell. The rest of us were simply keeping our siblings in line. Angels didn’t want anyone to fall, but it had to happen.”
She waved her hand at him, disregarding him. “I’ve heard it all. I’m so tired of it. I don’t care who did what, why they did it, or even when they did it. All I want is to get to the family I’ve never met so I can finish the mission I didn’t know I was on all these lifetimes.”
Maxwell stopped, grabbing her elbow. “Hey, no need to be rude. He’s just trying to explain things.”
“Well, Maxwell, I don’t give a shit. I’m exhausted. I’ve been tortured, had talking snakes come out of me, been cut, beaten, had voices in my head, and been tossed about as if I don’t matter when it’s very obvious I do. For what? Because, at some point in all my lives, I fell for a guy who I liked more than the one for whom I was made. How is that just? I get that we, apparently, had some mutated child. I get it was wrong because of that, but really? Really? Couldn’t I have just become some Midwestern soccer mom or something, anything other than this?” She paused to take a breath and rub her forehead. “Nope, not me. Not Adele Manning. I have to be here!” She threw her arms up, gesturing around, her anger beginning to boil.
Even the two angels took a step back from the angered woman. They watched her as her eyes began to glow. Her irises fogged up with red, then went black as she became more frustrated. Her fingertips began to shift and change, nimble peach-skinned fingers becoming black, little orbs glowing on the tips of each. Upon seeing this, Adele stopped talking and looked at her right hand, then at the angels. Both shrugged, having no idea what was happening to her.
The glowing light began to die out as her emotions calmed, then it vanished. “Apparently, it’s emotionally based,” Gabriel said. “Get angry again.”
“I don’t know how. Get angry about what?” She stared at her hand, turning it over.
“She can’t do it again,” Maxwell piped up. “It’s a one-time thing, I bet.”
Her eyes narrowed at him. “Have you forgotten who I’m supposed to be?”
Getting aggravated, her fingertips glowed once more, the veins in her hand also illuminating. When Maxwell smirked, her eyes narrowed at him, seeing what he did. Shaking her hand only forced the magic out more, lightning hitting the ground and scorching it on impact. Her brow rose, and she smirked at this.
“Just be careful unleashing God’s magic,” Gabriel warned.
The memory of an enraged Lilith caused concern within him. He saw what she did after the angel’s fell. She went on a bender of self-deprivation and depravity, then was struck down by a blow to the head by the archangel Michael, ending her first life. His reaction to seeing Adele before him with flickers of her former self was two-fold. One, it was a delight to see the first woman again, and two, it was troublesome. Seeing her re-learning the gifts she once confidently used to dismantle paradise and inflict havoc was an area of concern. Her gifts were so powerful, he hoped she’d use them for good, instead of morphing back into the evil, destructive deeds like before.
He understood why she used her magic for darkness before. She’d lost Maxwell, she had her children killed for being troubling mutations that never should have been, and she was abandoned in the wasteland outside of Eden. She had her reasons, but that didn’t condone them. His head lowered as they continued forward, remembering her final moments of suffering.
“You have brought this upon yourself, Lilith.” Michael’s echoing voice came forth from the pillar of energetic light that was his body. He looked down at her on the ground, weeping. “You have committed sins none of your kind has ever even conceived of before. Because of this, you will be made an example of.”
Part of the light broke away and came down on Lilith’s head. With a crack, her body went limp, collapsed, and lay still. She began bleeding from her head wound, tears still clinging to her cheeks. Her eyes fixated on Michael as life began to leave her. The Angel of Death appeared behind her, a black light forming from nothing. Breaking away in the same way Michael had to kill her, this darker angel moved his light toward her mouth. For the first time, a human’s soul was seen, and it wasn’t much different than an angel’s. Pure light dimmed by sins committed during life.
The Angel of Death spoke. “You will be given life once more and will continue to be given life until you understand what you have done in this life was wrong. In every life you live, you will be tested to see if you understand the weight of the ungodly sin you have committed. If you fail, you will live again with the sins to burden you. This is your punishment, but it is also an opportunity to redeem your very soul.”
The formless mist of energy, Lilith’s soul, moved above the body, peering down at it, understanding that she was now considered angel energy, and was otherwise dead. She was forced to accept what was being done. “I accept,” she whispered.
Gabriel looked at Adele with a sigh escaping his throat. He held out hope because it wasn’t in his nature to give up. He was an individual made of optimism and unconditional love. His feet kicked up pebbles as he turned around and stopped, seeing how far away they were from the largest mountain. A good distance, but not far enough. He couldn’t help but wonder why they hadn’t been attacked again, but he knew Kokabiel and knew this was his strategy.