"What? What are YOU doing here?" Azazel asked as I stood on his threshold.
Sachiel and I stood side by side. I didn't want to appear threatening, so we kept our avatars simple. I wore a white suit and tie. Sachiel cleaned up nicely. We could have been Mormons. I could feel Azazel appraising us, first him and then me.
"Are you here to try and eat me again? It comes off more like a dog humping my leg than anything. And why is he here? I thought you were going to add him to your love handles or something," Azazel asked, motioning to Sachiel.
"Just let me inside so that we may talk," I said plainly.
"I'm tired. I'm not seeing any visitors at this time," said Azazel loftily.
We stood outside the gates of his replica of the Garden of Eden. We could not see into the Garden. Azazel had it blocked off with thick, gray walls of mist. Azazel stood inside with the gates barely cracked open, his head peaking out. Sachiel and I could only see his pale complexion and clever, mean, serpentine yellow eyes peering out at us from the fog. He did not look tired or sad. He just looked defensive and hateful.
"I'm not here for you," I answered quickly. I was prepared to fight if he were to shut me out. "I'm here to discuss Meresin," I said in hopes it would get me his attention.
"Oh? Well then," said Azazel more agreeably. I immediately knew my gamble was a success. I appealed to his vanity, knowing he loves to gossip. "Why didn't you say so? Do come in. And wipe your feet."
I hadn't voluntarily met with Azazel on his home ground since the beginning of time. I knew he had a replica of the first Garden of Eden, but this was not it. Clearly, he did not want to meet me there, somewhere so personal. I did not know what to expect.
Instead, Azazel opened the gates and some of the mist began to flee. I followed Azazel down a flight of stairs. Wherever we were going, it was a lower place. That suited me just fine, as I thrived in lower, darker vibrational places. We continued down the stairs and passed through seconds of cool darkness. Then, a room opened up-- not unlike a basement.
It was bright. So bright, it dazzled my eyes as if I had been splashed in sunlight. Of course, we were not outside. We were in Azazel's basement, apparently, a massive room lined with arched windows. What caught my eye and nearly blinded me was a shaft of sunlight beaming onto a intricate, copper structure and creating a flickering, glimmering star. The entire room was filled with them. Spirals, loops, and pointed mega structures decorated every possible space. At first, I was unsure what I was looking at. I was simply amazed. It was not unlike my own machine, but even more grandiose. Yet, I was unsure what it was.
Then, I answered my own question. The answer came trailing along all by itself. A little toy train came rumbling down the tracks. All of the structures were train tracks, in fact. The entire basement was a futuristic, fantasy city built for a toy train to follow. There were soccer ball sized glass domes and titanium disks floating in the air. There were sparking electric Tesla coils and magnetically operating cranes. I even spotted water features and working machinery. All of it was impressive. I just didn't understand it. I wasn't going to question him, either. I wanted Azazel to be cooperative, instead of combative.
As Sachiel climbed down the stairs behind me, the train locomotive and all of its attached carts began to pass. The train had a classic appearance fit with a red caboose. It didn't fit the futuristic, kitschy aesthetic of the city it wandered. I said nothing as Azazel approached the toy train. It whistled and clicked across the tracks.
"I've got a new one," Azazel said. Sure enough, I noticed he had a green Lionel train car in his hand. "Raum gave it to me."
"Raum? I've not heard that name in a while... surprised he's still around," I yawned, bored. I wasn't sure if we were just wasting time or if I was going to get anywhere with him. I could feel that there was a discomfort in the air. Azazel is notoriously unpredictable in his mood.
"I visited him in his Trash Palace," said Azazel proudly as he connected the train cars. I realized he was even wearing the stupid, striped, train conductor, hog-head cap.
"I came here because we must talk about Meresin," I said, keeping it on "track." I glanced at Sachiel, who began to wander around looking at the train toys with pure joy and awe.
"I know," snipped Azazel. "He's a real fucking problem."
"What kind of problems has he been giving you?" I asked, genuinely curious now.
"Well," Azazel scoffed in his throat. "for one, ugh, he won't give me any answers that I'm looking for. So, I went back in time to mess with his little pets. You know, his little... projects that he has? He keeps specific humans and messes with them genetically. I know for a fact he keeps a few in Michigan whose family lines have survived the Black Plague. But, he's been doing more than that and you know how I am. Curious to a fault. So, I had to know. Then it led me down this rabbit hole to where I think that he's more than involved with the humans."
"What do you mean?" I asked, watching as some of his toys zip by and spin whimsically through the air. Sachiel was delighted.
"I think that he is in love with one!" shouted Azazel. His snake-like eyes bubbled with malice. He didn't look sane. He seemed crazy. He was enraged. He was simply mad. I inwardly smiled and tucked the information into my front pocket.
"That's not possible," I said firmly, but respectfully. "but, I don't discount your... observations. You, after all, likely know him best."
"Indeed I do, yes!" shouted Azazel triumphantly. Azazel was also known to be a liar, so this whole conversation could be a farce. He could be trying to lead me to believe ridiculous things for his own amusement, or in an attempt to eventually weaken and consume me. I knew to keep my guard but also feed into his insanity. I wanted to know if there was any grain of truth to use against Meresin.
"I've been visiting, studying, obsessing over Meresin... you know why. You know why, it's probably why you're here! It's the Void!"
"Yes, precisely. Precisely why I am here," I concurred. "He's mastered it and we must figure out how and why."
"He's got a girlfriend, Adremelech. He's got a human girlfriend. Our son's all grown up!" Azazel sarcastically sniffed and wiped his eyes. His gaze seemed even more heated, like molten gold. His wrath only seemed to rise as we continued to talk. There was no empathy or warmth, only complete hate and disgust.
"What? How do you mean?" I asked, puzzled. My brow knotted and my grin grew as I picked up every word.
"Yeah! It's not his lab rat, contrary to logic. It is someone else, some garbage fairy-human hybrid trash soul. She's barely pretty. She's just some mom in Michigan, and he uses the lab-rat person to possess and date her. So, I went back in time and slept with his girlfriend, from before they were involved so he wouldn't find out."
"Won't he discover it eventually?" I asked, bemused. I had to keep from laughing out loud as I wanted to remain as professional as possible. "You used your time powers to sleep with his girlfriend. How wonderfully childish, and I do applaud you, oh brother. But, that lends me to another topic with which I wanted to discuss with you. How the use of your time powers is destroying the entire universe into entropy. The Void has been breaking in each time you time travel. So much so, that I had to move my entire machine as the lower Hell dimensions began to collapse."
"I'm sorry, what?" asked Azazel, clearly not listening. I peered over at him from across the room. He stood playing with his toys and messing with his pocket watch. He seemed tickled to show Sachiel several sections of his train 'city.' He was avoiding the conversation purposefully and making a show of it.
"That!" I said, pointing at his pocket watch. "Is ruining the universe!!" I knew confronting him forcefully was likely not a good idea. I couldn't help myself. I felt my mouth pull into a thin line. I could feel my own anger begin to form like a thunderhead cloud. Sachiel's smile disappeared and Azazel and I met eyes.
"I'm sorry... what?" he repeated. Except his tone was threatening and sharp. He was daring me to challenge him. It was a dare for me to be insubordinate.
After he stepped down from the throne of Satan, I was the one to take his place. There had been dozens of insurrections for the title of Satan. Samael attempted it and even held it for a short period. But, Samael relinquished control under the threat of my takeover. The only entity stable enough and large enough has been me. My money machine organized Hell where there was once chaos. I was a better Satan than he was. He has always been a coward. He was the one to run away in the scope of work we had to do. Not I.
Now was the time to settle it once and for all. While he is Saturn, I am Jupiter. I am larger. Stronger. Better. I felt the reason for our separation from Azazel was for the Creator to find who was the best and most efficient portions of his personality to succeed. All I had to do was consume him. All I had to do was finish it. I felt I had the strength to do it, and there was no better time or place than in the very heart of his world.
"I said," I repeated, calculating how best to begin. I knew I needed his permission to consume him. It only worked--especially if it is an entity of much greater size or power--if both parties had many layers of agreements. So, I had to work this carefully. I had to have him in a place where he would acquiesce to being overpowered. I knew I had to hold back my rage.
"...I said that you're destroying the universe. The very fabric of reality is shredding. The Veil barely exists in places. The last time we directly encountered one another... do you remember? It is where you kidnapped my Sachiel," I said reasonably. I didn't want to erupt at him, as I knew I was in my character to do. I had to leash myself and meticulously choose my words. I gestured to Sachiel and continued. "When you left, at the moment you left using your... gift... the dimension began to shatter in your wake. Your traveling left a huge hole, and I barely escaped from the Void."
"Ah," sneered Azazel, as acknowledging the problem. "That's too bad. So unfortunate, really. Reality is breaking."
"Not just for them. It isn't just Earth. The problem is us, too. Don't you see? The Veil isn't just thin on their side anymore. We can't keep exploiting it. It is ripping on our side, too. It is an existential threat that we haven't faced before. We have known about it because we have used it, brother. This is different. And I think it is directly related to your toy," I said as I rested my eyes upon his golden pocket-watch. Looking around, I realized that my brother may have an obsession with toys. It was a childishness in him that I held a newly found appreciation.
Sachiel seemed to be listening, but all of his attention was fixated on the marvelous train city. I could tell he was nervous, as if mother and father were arguing. I did not care. I did not care for Sachiel's or anyone's feelings. This was serious. This was large, perhaps even larger than I. To even look into resolving it, I knew I needed Azazel's cooperation.
"You think so?" Azazel shrugged and turned his spiteful, snake-like eyes towards his glittering golden pocket-watch. "Yeah, well, maybe that's what I want. Maybe that's why I even have it," he said as he snapped it open and closed in his palm. "Maybe I want to ruin everything. Didn't you come here to discuss Meresin? Or are you here to lecture me?"
I knew that if I didn't back down that I would lose. I must surrender the battle to win the war, sort to speak. I realized my only chance at survival was to defeat Azazel once and for all. I couldn't push it now, I knew.
It was then I noticed the reason Azazel was lashing out so harshly was that he was weak. Something was hurting him, too. We kept our distance in his basement. He stood behind many layers of his toy trains, all of them whizzing, buzzing, chiming, and wonderfully strange. Behind that was an ugly layer of pain and regret. He looked worn. I could read on the surface of his energy that something had weakened him considerably, as if the life-force had been sucked from him. It happened recently, too.
I couldn't begin to think of what it was, but it was something in my favor. There were forces at work that I wasn't privy to. It was as if a steam locomotive had come and socked Azazel straight in the face.
"What're you staring at?" Azazel shrieked. His defensiveness only confirmed my insight. I glanced away with a small smile. "Sorry," I muttered, folding my arms. "You just seem a bit harried, but you're right. We're here to discuss Meresin."
"Yeah, well, only if you're done accusing me of breaking reality. But, okay. Yeah, we can discuss him, because yeah, he's a real problem. But, you're not listening to me!! You're too busy accusing me of breaking stuff, like you always do. And? I know what you're thinking..." Azazel said, pointing a finger at me. His fingernails were painted an opalescent pink and perfectly manicured. "You're thinking to yourself-- I've got Sachiel here as an appetizer but I really need a main course. And, you've only gained 800lbs this year, not your usual 900 or a million pounds. I don't like your physique, but who am I to judge? So, you've come here thinking you could eat me, like that will solve your problems. But I'm here to tell you, kiddo, oh brother of mine... that eating cake before bed never, ever helps you. I'm here to tell you that you need to go on a diet. This is an intervention."
I held myself back. I knew he was baiting me, coiling around my leg and then striking fierce. He knew I could not yet devour him and was taunting me. I remained respectful and composed. I held my hands behind my back and stood my ground near the center of the room. Sachiel wandered around like a floating moon. Azazel stood guarded, with many rings of toys around him to keep him safe.
"You're right, of course. Instead of you.. what about... Meresin?" I conspired. "He's much smaller than you are. More like a salad instead of a steak."
"You think I haven't tried?!!!" boomed Azazel. His moods shifted precariously. I wanted to keep it on his good side. "I've got the greatest time powers in the universe... but I don't have a map with which to use it!! I'm guessing, at best. I'm usually right, but not always. I swear we wouldn't have as much of a problem tearing the Veil if I could get Meresin to agree to become a part of me. I've been trying since we've separated. I definitely been trying since he's mastered the Void. To be frank, I think it would be easier to convince you to... reabsorb into me for lack of a better term, than Meresin."
"I don't believe you," I snapped, feeling my jaw tighten and my teeth bared. "You insult me. How dare you. I'd rather be obliterated than reabsorb. You're just exaggerating," I snarled.
"I'm not," Azazel deadpanned. "Let me repeat it-- it would be easier for me to eat you than eat him. Size does -not- matter, especially in this case. That's why this Void thing is complicated. I need him more than he needs me."
"So, obtaining his knowledge on the Void is going to be... difficult," I said slowly.
"If not impossible!" Azazel blurted. "So, I've been trying to come up with other things. I feel like the lock and he is the key, but never shall the two shall meet. I have the weapon but he has the manual. I have the ability to control time, but he has the map of the timelines. I feel like the information I require lies in his ability to control or use the Void. I just don't understand it. I don't have access to his knowledge."
"What do you know?" I inquired, just to see what he would say, since he obviously felt chatty, if a little unhinged.
"Glad you asked! Like I said before, Adremelech, but you weren't listening. Meresin has a girlfriend."
"Well, I hear you. You claimed he was in love. So, what do you know about her?" I asked, leaning casually against a heavy table. I peered into his train contraptions, fascinated by the clockwork mechanisms. It was built so differently from my machine, all raw numbers and efficiency. It was as if his train city was made not to be efficient, but to be fancy. The afternoon golden light, which never seemed to change in his basement no matter how much time had passed—always captured and reflected the city's structures just perfectly to naturally glitter.
"As I said!... She's a mom. In Michigan, present time present day. With two kids. I've read through all of her energies and timelines, as much as I could gather. She's full of multiple, multiple layers, so she is not a new soul. I didn't have access to everything in her personal files, of course. She's mostly a fairy-human soul, so she's able to communicate a little better. A modern day witch," said Azazel.
"A 'witchy-woman,'" I mused. I didn't know much of my brother, but I was open to learning.
"What's strange is... she's good," said Azazel, shaking his head. "She's a good mom, a good person. I dove right in and inserted myself to investigate where Meresin couldn't find me. I didn't want to leave any fingerprints. I even accessed some of her 'past-lives,' so I could better understand her vibrational makeup."
"And what of her 'past-lives'?" I asked, rolling my eyes. 'Past-lives' are widely misunderstood by humans-- because they only experience time in a linear fashion. 'Past-lives' don't occur in the past at all, but rather alongside the present. They are rippling out from each individual. They are also not unique to each person. There have been hundreds of thousands of Cleopateras, for example. Different souls may possess the same body at a time, if they have the permission.
"Her past-lives that makeup her personality aren't very exciting. So, there isn't much to say. She's just always been herself in every lifetime. Some magical woman with a strong connection to nature and also likes art. She's only ever been herself, that's for sure. She isn't like... an empty vessel full of demons. Very much the opposite. Strong, strong identity. Her aura is mostly red," said Azazel. "
"My favorite color. My favorite people," I said, eagerly. "I resonate with spicy humans."
"Spicy is a good word for her, impossible to possess or corrupt. At least, it would be a challenge." Azazel snorted.
"And you think he's in love?" I wondered.
"I know he's in love," Azazel narrowed, fiddling with the train tracks. "I've seen it with my very eyes."
"Do tell," I pressed, leaning closer. I felt sucked in by him. He had me hooked. I knew Azazel to be a good liar. I had to be careful.
"Like I keep telling you... he possesses his lab rat and uses him like a puppet. Noah. That's his name. Then, I caught him using the vessel to kiss his one true love. I saw it, I saw it happen. He lit up like a sparkler. The energy was flying everywhere. I'm telling you my brother, he is in love. It is nothing I've seen before. He has secrets."
"I hear what you're saying. I just... have to see it for myself. I must tell you that I also don't trust a word that you're saying," I said as I knew this conversation was coming to a close. I shot a look towards Sachiel and silently told him that it was almost time to take our leave.
"See it for yourself," Azazel said, dismissively waving his hand. I could tell that he was tired of the visit, too. Wearing out our welcome, I turned to face the exit portal. Then, I felt the information Azazel loaded into my brain. He gave me all of Wendy's details, her personal 'file.' As if it had downloaded straight into my soul, I knew exactly where to find her and when. I could pin-point her location and I felt that I knew almost everything that he knew about her. It was as if he was reaching out a small olive branch to get me to trust him.
"Come, Sachiel, we have things to investigate," I said. I realized it was daunting, too. I am such a large, negative entity it would be hard for me to manifest on Earth, present day present time for extended periods. I ushered Sachiel through the portal to leave Azazel's basement full of toys.
I pulled Sachiel and I to a safe place. I knew the lower levels of Hell were becoming increasingly unstable. There simply was not a lot of time left and nowhere to go.
"Sachiel," I said, explaining things simply and carefully. "I want you to go to Wendy and observe."
"Just observe?" asked Sachiel. "I can do that. That's what we always do as angels," he replied confidently. "I'll watch and not interfere."
"Good," I said. "And report back to me. Get your feel for her. Information gather. It would be easier for you than it would be for me. I trust you," I said. I meant it. We were bonded quite closely now. I was grateful that I refrained from eating him. Having him separate from me made it easier for me. It greatly saved me on energy when I knew it was a time to conserve.
"Will do, boss," said Sachiel. I copied the package of information Azazel gave to me and gave it to Sachiel. He knew everything I knew about Wendy. With that knowledge, Sachiel vanished leaving me behind.
I was alone. In the distance, I heard a deep, loud roar. It thundered through the caves of the lower crusts of Hell. The walls began to shake and bits of volcanic debris fell to the floor. The Void was coming, devouring everything in its wake.