Jesus walked easily onto the battlefield, his simple armor shining in the starlight, his broadsword gleaming diamond-bright. His expression was as serene and unflappable as ever. As he passed through the archangels, each of them embraced him briefly: a last-minute reassurance, though for him or for them Satan could not tell.
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          Satan’s scream of anger echoed through the halls and plains of Hell, and both damned and demons cowered; but nothing would satisfy him. Death had been destroyed. The humans would now not only have life, but everlasting life.
           Jesus had won.
           He collapsed onto his throne, and gripped the armrests so hard they ( Read more... )

          It had been twenty days in the desert thus far, and Satan was beginning to be frustrated by the solemn, unsmiling, stubborn Son of God. Any other man - and a few angels too - would have caved in by now, would have seen the error of their stupid loving ways, would have Fallen and Fallen hard. But Jesus just walked around the desert, ( Read more... )

          Jesus Christ. The Son of God, on earth.
          He had gone into the desert to pray for forty days and forty nights, fasting, meditating. To be closer to the Father? But Jesus was already closer to God than any other creature in the whole of the universe: he was God.
           Satan hated him, and not just on principle.
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          The demon practically fled through the gates of Hell, tore through the crowds of tortured and torturing, begged and threatened and screamed his way through to Satan’s throne room.
          Satan regarded the demon coolly. Well, if it is so important, speak.
          “Jesus,” the demon gasped.
          It was only Beelzebub’s sudden ( Read more... )

Two men dressed in white were sitting in a tomb, having a quiet conversation, when a third appeared in the doorway.

Did Mary already see you?

They turned. One of them stood. “Yes. And she saw him. And she recognized him.”

The third man smiled. I’m glad. After all he’s been through, he deserves a friendly face.

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It was Friday.

The ground was crowded with humans; the air, with angels. But everyone parted like the Red Sea all over again, for Azrael.

Michael gripped his hand briefly as he went slowly past. Gabriel ran a hand down one of Azrael’s wings, comfortingly. Azrael almost stopped and threw his arms around the archangel, but he ( Read more... )

The day came when Azrael met the Son of God for the first time. It was in the house of a man named Lazarus.

Azrael had gone from that place already, having taken the man beyond. But he felt the tug of a miracle pulling him back.

There were only two entities in that room - the Son and the Destroyer - but it clogged the air with ( Read more... )

Children, again. An entire generation of men, gone because of one man’s fear. Azrael wanted to curse Herod, but that would have been pointless. Yet another thoughtless, paranoid ruler. What else was new?

The children he gathered were too young to talk, but old enough to understand. Some of them cried. Most of them were quiet. A few of ( Read more... )

The night came that the Son was born on earth. A host of angels filled the sky, led by Gabriel, singing praises.

So - what does this mean? Azrael asked afterward. I never actually understood what a Messiah is.

“He is going to save the humans,” said Raphael. He darted a glance at the other archangels. “That’s what a Messiah is ( Read more... )