Page 15 of Metatron
“Only a few but that’s enough. Your location is compromised. You’ll have to move,” he noted.
“Hate to break it to you but the monsters have known we’re here for a while, on purpose, I might add. We make them come to us since they’re good at hiding. Since we started baiting, we usually dispatch three or four a month.”
“Meaning they’ve yet to launch a large-scale attack,” he stated as if it were just a matter of time. “You will have issues should they ever outnumber you.”
“That would require them pre-planning, which they’re not smart enough to do.”
His lips pinched. “With Hell coming, things will change. You need to be ready.”
“We’ve been doing just fine thus far.”
“Fine isn’t good enough. Those on the surface will be driven into a murderous frenzy as the Dark Lord of Hell nears.”
“Why?” I couldn’t help myself, and he sighed as his gaze went skyward.
“Because their simple minds will be overwhelmed with a need to please their master.”
“And by pleasing you mean killing.” I grimaced. “Lovely. Another thing to worry about. Anything else I should know? Like, is Hell going to cause dormant volcanoes to go haywire? Should I expect geostorms?”
Once more his expression pinched in disapproval. “You’re mocking my warning.”
“More like overwhelmed. This is a lot to take in. And every time I think I understand what’s going on, you drop another bombshell.”
“The best thing you can do is be prepared to fight, and soon, and to that end, you should return to the meeting. Make sure the Templars are readying themselves.”
“Easier said than done,” I muttered. People-wrangling wasn’t easy. Managing personalities required a fine balancing act. About the only time they didn’t squabble was when we actually had something to fight.
“If you require me, you have the token to contact.”
My hand dropped to my pocket at the reminder even as I blinked, the bright light that encased him too much for my poor eyes.
When I could see again, he’d disappeared. Beamed back to his ship. Leaving me with a monumental task; wrangling the Templars into an army to fight Hell while, at the same time, recruiting and outfitting because from what I’d seen in the historic footage of previous Hell invasions, a few hundred knights wouldn’t be enough.
The meeting where I introduced Metatron and Jesus Christ got the ball rolling with my sect and those present via webcam. They pledged their support, but I knew this was just the beginning. We had much work to do and questions to answer.
While most would be content to follow and do whatever Jesus or the angels said, I dug deeper, wanting to understand more about the mysterious visitors from outer space. I immersed myself in learning whatever I could about the angels, Hell, Heaven, and the God called Elyon. It turned out I didn’t need Tron around to answer my questions because I somehow befriended his ship, who turned out to be an intelligent living being who called herself Zilla. I was just as surprised the first time I heard her voice. Apparently, the angels on board couldn’t hear her because God forbade it. Yet another strike against Elyon.
I was more than happy to chat once I got over the weirdness of speaking aloud or thinking at Zilla in my head and having her reply. I wasn’t sure how I felt knowing Zilla could sneak in there and listen to my thoughts, but on a positive note, I didn’t get a creepy vibe from the living ship, more one of joy that Zilla finally had people to talk to. How lonely she must have been unable to communicate with anyone.
Even better, she offered me a more comfortable place to stay aboard her. A welcome offer seeing as how my apartment had been condemned due to mold concerns from the leak. The landlord made me wear a hazmat suit to collect personal belongings. Overkill if you ask me.
Once Zilla realized my situation, she immediately offered a solution: “I have a room you can use.”
“Won’t Tron be pissed you invited me aboard?”
“Only if you’re in his way.” A snarky reply.
I couldn’t say no. And so I learned to beam without puking. Even better, I didn’t lack for anything. Zilla outfitted me with clothes, fed me, and dropped me wherever I needed to go, which turned out to be around the world in a literal blink of an eye. But the thing I appreciated the most? The information Zilla shared.
I found myself fascinated by Elyon and his heavenly home. Images showed him as grand and regal as well as varying in countenance. According to Zilla, he could take on any appearance he chose. The only thing that remained the same? His glowing eyes.
When asked, she listed all his accomplishments and included his habit of meddling with planet ecosystems to create suul, which he had his angels collect, a practice that curdled my stomach. From what I could tell, we were his livestock, and upon our death, he profited.
But Elyon and his farming of Earth lost my focus when Hell was spotted at the outskirts of our solar system. Zilla saw it well before the Earth telescopes did. Its appearance gave me the opening needed to start convincing religious sects outside the Templars that we needed to join forces.
It didn’t entirely surprise that most mocked me when I told them Hell was coming. I expected it from some religions, their beliefs too firmly entrenched to listen to a woman who had no actual proof. But even the Catholic church refused to listen! Efforts made to convince them failed. They didn’t see Tron as an angel come to help us but a demon. Jesus Christ could have helped, but he kept turning down our requests claiming he had other business to attend to.
Metatron refused to make further appearances stating, “I am not an object to be bandied about and have his existence disputed. If they don’t want to believe, then they will suffer the consequence.”