Lightbringer

Chapter 13: Armageddon

I stand on the platform built where souls enter Hell – where the boundary of the realm is thinnest, where eons ago, the fallen followed me through. Strange how life brings you full circle. I confronted god, got sent to the void, built this realm, and now I'm going to confront god out in the void and my realm will crumble in the wake of my death (probably. Hopefully not). Souls are flooding in behind me, and now that all activity has been shut down for this assembly, there's no one to guide them to orientation, so they mill about uncertainly, watching me.

I had made the mistake of looking through the Viewing Lens when I got here. I had seen the armies of heaven laying waste to Earth, burning and destroying everything. We are barred from entering my father's realms, either heaven or Earth, so the fallen and I are left to watch helplessly and just wait to receive the dead. And prepare for our own war.

I step up to the mic. Jessica, the human who had directed me to the setup, had explained what to do and that what was happening here would be streamed to all the other assembly areas for everyone in Hell to hear and see. Calm and self-assured, I remind myself. I cannot scare them, not in what might be their last moments (I can't let them know that I am afraid of that). Give them hope, I think, but don't lie. Eliza is standing beside me, grim-faced and arms crossed, and just her presence is comforting. Adam, Eve, Abel, and Cain are lined up behind me. I take a deep breath and square my shoulders, bracing my trident in full view beside me. Set the tone.

"Hello, everyone." Is that stupid? It felt stupid as soon as I said it. I should have prepared something! "I know this is unusual, but I'm sure many of you have guessed or suspected what's happening. God is destroying Earth, and he will be coming for Hell next." No good way to sugarcoat that. Murmurs and gasps ripple through the crowd before me. "I and the other fallen will go out to face him. If all goes well, we will drive him off, or failing that, he will be unable to enter Hell." I can't say more without either scaring them or lying. "You, as most of you know, have a little divine in you," (though not enough to let them survive the void or hope to face god) "and in the ensuing battle, you may find a need and be called upon to channel that divine energy into the firmament of Hell to help maintain its integrity. In such an event, the firstborn" I gesture at the humans behind me "will guide you on what to do and if and when it is time to do so." I can practically hear Adam saying, "we still don't know if this will work" and mentally add "or how." It's all purely theoretical; it's not like we could do a trial run of me dying. "You are each of you stronger than you know. Remember your own strength, and find strength in each other. I'm so proud of all of you, and it's been an honor and a privilege to see what you've made of yourselves and of Hell these past millennia. It's been thousands of years and billions of souls, and the one thing I can say with absolute, unshakable certainty is that humanity is worth it. It is worth everything." I stop before I say something I shouldn't, like goodbye. They need to believe, for now, that I'm coming back from this fight, or they might panic. They need to be calm and focused if they're going to channel their power and save themselves. "Thank you all," I finish, finally.

There's some scattered, uncertain applause. I turn and huddle close with the humans, Eliza taking the opportunity to slip her arm around me, and it steadies the erratic tapping of my heart. "You have to watch through the Viewing Lens for when I die. I've talked with Jesus, and we're pretty sure when that happens there's going to be a rush of power, like an exhale, that will momentarily make Hell stronger. You have to use that time to get ready, because as soon as it fades, there'll be a power vacuum, and that's going to either tear Hell apart or you'll be able to successfully use it to pull the divine energy and help the humans channel it to fill the gap I leave. There might be some tremors or other repercussions, but you're going to have to keep them calm and focused. Are you ready?"