The Descent of the Gods

Convergence

The slave Maori had been halfway to the hidden boat when she had flung herself between the boulders at Nod's northern shoreline in terror from the heavenly objects landing all around her. She had trembled as she heard each impact and the crack and crash of pulverized rock fragments descending all about her.

As silence replaced the pandemonium, she realized that she had survived. She rose, slowly, to look about. Past the boulders that that been her shelter, and through the swirling dust, she could see humanoid forms rising up and striding steadfastly toward Nod.

She heard a voice rise above the island - "I am the protector of Nod..." 

She crept forward gingerly, hoping none of the imposing figures would notice her. She rested her body behind the safety of a large rock, and watched. 

"Will you take the boat, or remain?" A voice said from behind her. She whirled to see one of the men behind her. He stood, making not any threatening movements, and yet somehow his very presence was intensely overpowering. This was no ordinary man, and he was awaiting her response.

"My lord, I must go while I still can!" She cast her eyes down, unable to look at him any longer.

"Go where? Who waits for you beyond the water?" Maori looked up quickly in surprise, and then back down at her feet. Could he know? Could he possibly know that no one waited for her? That she was the only one left?

"I can't stay here," she managed.

"The Nod that was will be no more," He said. "There will be a place for you here. Come and see!" And with that, the man left her, joining his comrades streaming towards the city center.

Maori looked after him, overcome with a longing to follow him and intense fear at making any steps towards Nod again. But even as she wrestled with the choice, she knew it had already been made. There was something about this man. He had approached her with familiarity - he knew her somehow. And Maori was determined to find out how.

And as she left the safe refuge of the rock, and followed the angels toward Nod, not one realized that the ragged girl following them would play such a key role in events to come. None perhaps beside Sariel, who stole a glance behind him to confirm that his words had had their intended effect.

Not another hostile act toward Nod was committed that day. As angels strode through the city streets in human form, their demonic opponents were having the equivalent of a mental breakdown at their appearance. And the Herabites, who had been driven to absolute ferocity under their direct influence, were left without anything except feelings of confusion and terror. 

As soon as the Herabites grasped with a fraction of their minds that the projectiles that had crashed into the earth were protectors of Nod, they couldn't flee the city fast enough. Escape was their only goal, and en masse, they emptied from the city back onto the shore, either hastily escaping in boats, or braving the long swim across the Euphrates if a boat was not readily obtainable. 

Lamech, laying in the bloody sand, watched their exodus in a daze at first. Then he realized that the enemy was leaving unscathed. He staggered to his feet, waving at his men to attack, to shoot, to somehow assail the enemy. Some did, but for every one many that fitted an arrow and fired, another five could not be torn away from staring into the city, eyes straining to peer through the dust and over the fleeing hordes of Herabites. 

Lamech found himself looking over his shoulder every few moments, trying to catch a glimpse of the mysterious beings that had taken over his city. Busying himself with trying to inflict some final losses on his enemies, he fought to suppress the rising fear inside him.

Azrael ascended the steps of Cain's citadel, Semyaza and a host of angels just behind him. Herabites even now were trying to flee in front of them. Crazed with fear, a few even leaped over the walls to their deaths - just to avoid the angelic approach. 

But Azrael thought nothing of it. These barbarians were little more than beasts. They had given themselves over to darkness and worshiped a serpent. They were Moloch's chosen tool that had been used to try to shame him in front of heavenly hosts and hell's horde. He cared not for the the fate the Herabites had brought on their own heads.

The glimpse was quick and far away, but Azrael knew it was her. The view was new - he was accustomed to picking her out in a crowd by her aura. But his eyes now no longer saw such extra details. All he saw now was a small figure high above him on the citadel. She was staring down at the approaching angels, her face filled with both awe and apprehension.

He felt the same feelings, but with different reason. As he approached the girl that he had placed his hopes in, who had risked her own life as his influence, he had no idea what to say. How could he greet her after so many years of watching her from a different realm, unseen and yet ever so present? She was the very reason he had come. Should he thank her for it? 

He stopped before her, the angels flanking him in masse, looking down at the filthy, bruised Cainite girl. She looked back at them, scanning their faces. Her eyes fell at last on their leader, Azrael, and did not move onward. Her eyes saw his, and now they burned into his own with questions, hopes and fears that Azrael felt the full weight of at last.  

"Stand" Was all Azrael could muster. As Naamah cautiously rose to her feet, a young man stepped forward, putting himself between the girl and the angels, a sword hanging from one hand, a sling wrapped around his left forearm.

"Are you not sent from heaven? What do you want with her?" Enoch said, as bravely as he could.

Azrael held a hand forward to silence Semyaza's response. Azrael smiled as his friend contained the words he would have spit in the boy's direction. 

"We are from above," Azrael replied. "And you? You're no Cainite, nor Herabite."

"He's a Sethite who worships God in heaven," Naamah said, standing forth. "And a friend."

"You have nothing to fear from us," Azrael said softly. "I come seeking one of great faith, who tried to tear down the image of Cain. For the faith of this one, we all have come." He spread his arms wide, gesturing to his brothers crowded behind him on the steps.

"Well, you have found the one that you seek," Enoch said, stepping aside and nodding at Naamah.

"Young woman," Azrael said, doing all in his power to keep his voice steady. "Your faith and bravery has brought us to Nod. We could not stand by to see such faith die and our enemy victorious."

Tears streamed down her face. This morning she had been chained in a dungeon. Now a heavenly contingent was honoring her. She glanced toward the river. The last of the Herabites were being driven from her home at the point of her father's sword. She smiled gratefully through her tears.

"Then you have saved us all!"

From across the river, Moloch surveyed the same sight, but fuming with an internal rage known only by those who had tasted hell fire's scorching heat. Seething in silence as Nod was emptied of his attacking forces, one of his minions approached carefully.

"Are they allowed to do that?" The demon queried, pointing a claw at the angels they could see on Cain's citadel. 

"No, they most surely are not permitted to do this." Moloch growled.

"But they did!"

"Yes they did. Azrael has won a reprieve for Nod. But he will wish they had left them to me!"