“The kingdom of Heaven it just that, a kingdom,” the angel began. “What do kingdoms have?” she asked rhetorically. “That's right, a monarch.” She directed this last word rather harshly at the four angels who were gathered in front of her. They jumped back at the tone with which she used to describe their 'king.'
“This is heresy,” one of the angels gathered declared. “What would you have us do? Overthrow him?”
“Nay, think not of that. Not even with the combined force of every one us of could we hope to topple him,” the first angel said.
“What I don't get is how you can even hope to plot against him without him hearing,” another one of the angels gathered said.
The first angel shook her head. “You misunderstand me,” she protested. “It's not that I plot against him at all, it's just I can't help but pine for something more.”
“Something more?” one of the other angels asked. “This is Paradise, is it not?”
“Nay,” the first angel replied. “You may call it that but I know there is something greater then sitting at his side and trumpeting the day away.”
“Where would you go? To Earth?” the second angel asked.
“Nay,” the first angel said again. “To go to Earth and be among his creations there would but sicken me. He gives them intelligence and guidance yet at every turn they scoff it and destroy each other. It makes no sense to me.”
“Then you would join Lucifer in opposition? That is surely what you mean?”
“My dear brother, how wrong you think of me. I would not stand side by side with Lucifer in his inferno against our creator.”
“Well then what, Nuit?” another angel asked causing all the others to gasp.
“We had said no names!” one of the angels cried. “Now he will surely know!”
“Hush, Horus,” Nuit said.
“Bah! Now you have said my name!” Horus cried. “Now where would you have us hide from his retribution?”
“Purgatory,” Nuit said. The angels gathered started to murmur. “I intend to take Purgatory for those of us who would be free of Heaven and Hell.
“Isn't that sort of already the point?” an angel asked.
“No, currently the wishy-washy inbetweeners get sent to Purgatory,” Nuit said.
“And how is that any different?” the same angel asked again.
“God d-” Nuit started then when she saw the eyes of her friends she stopped herself. Just saying his name was bad enough, but if she were to curse it, she thought she might not like the end result. “Please, Ra,” Nuit begged, “Please be silent and hear me out.”
Ra nodded at this and Nuit continued. “If you think about it, Purgatory is empty of a ruler. I'm not saying that I want to rule, I'm saying think about that. A place you wouldn't have to kneel and bow and watch your tongue day in and day out. If we were to take it we could govern ourselves and do whatever we wanted to without having to be at his beck and call.”
“I've heard enough I'm leaving,” the one of the other angels in attendance stood to leave.
“Fine, Horus,” Nuit said. “I suppose you'll run and tell him everything I've said, if he hasn't listened to it himself yet already. Tell him one more thing for me, thanks for the creation and everything, but I'm moving out. Who's with me?”
The rest of the angels gathered gave a small cheer. They would follow Nuit to do just about anything, she was that charismatic. Nuit knew plenty of others would be interested but she had called this meeting to discuss the idea with the most powerful angels she was friends with. She was sad to see Isis go, but not surprised. “Come Ra, come Isis, come Osiris,” she called to the other gathered angels. She spread her wings and prepared to fly to storm Purgatory.
Nuit expected some sort of resistance when they got to Purgatory but they found none. They didn't find anyone or anything, for that matter. A seemingly endless void stretched out on all sides of them. They could see nothing in the distance, no people and no objects.
“Hear me!” Nuit cried. “I declare this plane to be under the official ruling of the heavenly angels and as a safe haven to all those who would reject servitude for freedom!”
Now they were no longer alone. Nuit and the others found themselves surrounded by people now. Most seemed apathetic about their arrival. They sat in chairs, or certainly seemed to. There didn't appear to be anything between them and whatever passes for ground in Purgatory, but still they all seemed seated comfortably, as if something was beneath them. As Nuit puzzled this she realized she was being addressed from a lady who sat in front of an invisible desk. The lady had long, flowing hair that seemed way more interesting then whatever Nuit had been thinking. She was staring at the lady without hearing her when she shook it off and listened to what the lady was saying.
“Excuse me, miss,” the lady behind the desk said. “If you are here to assert some sort of claim over Purgatory you must go stand in that line.” The lady pointed at a long line of people that snaked off into the distance.
“Wait in line?” Nuit fumed. “Do you know who I am?”
“Yes,” the lady behind the desk appeared to glance down at a piece of paper that wasn't there, that rested upon a desk that wasn't there. “Nuit, daughter of Yahweh. You're here to claim Purgatory as your own, is all that right?”
“What of it?” Nuit snorted.
“Well, the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of people with similar notions who got here before you. If you'll proceed to the back of the line, he'll be with you sometime this millennium.”
“Who?” Nuit asked.
“God,” the lady behind the desk answered.
“My father? He has to meet with these people all day long?” Nuit asked.
“Hon, you really don't get it do you? I thought if anybody would it would be one of you. Do you not grasp the meaning of 'everywhere at once?' This is but one plane, he speaks with creatures across an infinite number of planes, every minute of every day. Why if he didn't have you guys to watch Heaven for him, who knows what would happen?” The lady behind the desk asked.
“Why does he need us to watch Heaven if he is all-seeing?” Nuit asked.
“Ah, but all-seeing isn't quite as encompassing as it sounds. There are those who know how to obfuscate his view as well,” the lady answered.
“You're just trying to plant doubt in my mind,” Nuit smiled and held out here hand, causing a sword to materialize in her grasp. It had a golden hilt that she clutched tightly, all along the silver blade flames jumped and sparked, careful not to bite Nuit's hand.
“I think you should put that away,” the lady behind the desk warned. She stood revealing that she had angel wings tucked in behind her, as she rose she spread them forth. “Out,” she commanded and pointed one finger at Nuit's sword. It instantly disappeared.
“What in the-” but Nuit was unable to finished. The lady behind the desk had advanced and now you could see she had the furry goat legs of a demon. Also, a wicked crimson tail with a sharp barb on the end trailed behind her. “Lady Lilith,” Nuit finally managed.
“Yes, who did you think was in charge here? Yahweh? Please, he'd have nothing to do with this place if he could. He'd much rather spend all the day watching Earth Prime,” Lilith said. Now she held out her hand and this time a spiked mace appeared. Lilith started to swing it as she continued to advance towards Nuit. “I'm sick of you all coming in here and thinking you can just take over. Do you know how many people get sent here? You mean to tell me you would rule all of them?”
“I don't want to rule, I just want to live free from being ruled,” Nuit explained.
“But that is the thing, how can that ever be possible?” Lilith said as she continued to swing the morning star. “Creatures will always feel the need to rule and to be ruled, it's in their blood, brains and spirit. The only way you would be able to find your sanctuary here is to defeat me and then to take on your father. What I wouldn't give to see that,” Lilith spoke.
“Why would you even bother to defend here?” Nuit asked.
“It is not by my choice but my contract to your father for redemption. Do you think I look like this intentionally?” Lilith inquired.
Nuit shook her head.
“Of course I don't. Your father, ever the prankster, decided that indefinite servitude and a body that looks like this,” Lilith waved a hand in front of herself to show she meant her twisted form, “are his idea of me redeeming myself for birthing the nephilim into his precious Earth.”
“How long are you to serve him like this?” Nuit asked, intrigued.
“An indefinite period of time, I guess. Until he says stop, or I am unable to sit here, endlessly routing those who come to Purgatory this way and that,” Lilith said.
“This is what I'm trying to stop. Why do we let Him rule us so? There must be some other way to live without him constantly controlling us. His humans get free will, why do we not?” Nuit tried to persuade Lilith into joining their cause.
“You would take up arms against Yahweh?” Lilith asked.
“If it came to it,” Nuit said.
“Hold on, Nuit,” Osiris finally spoke up. “I don't want to hurt Father.”
“Then you are free to leave,” Nuit's eyes had iced over. Her tone indicated she would brook no allies who were not completely devoted to her cause.
Osiris looked as if he was about to protest, then he decided against it. The air around him seemed to shimmer and then he dematerialized in front of them. For a moment after he was gone where he had stood still appeared distorted.
“Anyone else?” Nuit asked.
“I can't go through with this,” Ra said. Then he disappeared as well.
“Isis?” Nuit asked.
“I'm with you Nuit,” Isis said.
“Just us ladies, eh? Why does that not surprise me?” Nuit said.
“So what do you suggest we do?” Lilith asked. “We can't very well pop in right next to Him, even if by some chance he didn't know we are coming, I'm sure those two deserters will let Him know what is going on.”
“I'm thinking,” Nuit said as she tapped her foot, a trait of impatience she picked up from watching mortals. “There's no way to physically harm Him, but if we were to cause harm on Earth, that might affect him emotionally.”
“I like it,” Lilith said. After a couple thousand years like this, I'm ready for a change,” Lilith said.
“Can you contact the nephilim?” Isis asked.
“I might be able to but they were placed into a deep slumber about a thousand years ago, for the creation of the bubonic plague that wiped out millions of people,” Lilith said.
“Do you think they would be up for this?” Nuit asked.
“Most definitely,” Lilith replied. “Hold on one moment.” She place one hand on the side of her temple and closed her eyes as she concentrated on contacting her children. “I can sense their minds, but they don't seem to recognize I'm there.”
“They're down on Earth?” Isis asked.
“Yes, sleeping deep underground on Earth. The cities they are beneath have steadily drawn people to them for years, from the people that settled there and on. They all could feel the power of the nephilim,” Lilith explained.
“Can they be woken?” Nuit asked.
“Well if anyone is capable of waking them, I should be able to,” Lilith said. She wasn't being egotistical, she was just simply stating a fact.
“So we should travel to Earth?” Nuit asked.
“That seems to be the best course of action,” Lilith said.“Emim, Rephaim, and Anakim, my children I was never let to know. I have only seen them twice you understand, the first time when I bore them and the second time when Yahweh put them to sleep, they had been ravaging his Earth you see, and for that we were all punished. “ Lilith was on the verge of tears by the time she finished.
“Where should we go?” Nuit tried again.
“New York City, Tokyo, or London,” Lilith said.
“Shall we try New York first?” Nuit asked. Lilith nodded weakly in reply.
“Grab my hands,” Lilith commanded. Nuit took her right hand while Isis took her left. “Now picture yourself on Yahweh's Earth, New York to be exact.” They all closed their eyes and did as they were commanded. They were not surprised when they found themselves a moment later in New York. None of the mortals walking on both sides of them paid them any mind. They could not be seen, the human mind would not, or could not, comprehend that three divine presences were in their midst. “Here we are,” Lilith said. She pointed down the busy street at set of stairs leading down into a subway station. “We should be able to get to Emim from there.” Isis and Nuit nodded. They followed Lilith towards the set of stairs, the sights and smells of New York were nearly overwhelming to them. Everywhere they could smell food cooking, exhaust from vehicles spewing into the air and befouling the taste of what was once quite fragrant. Everywhere there were people there were thoughts as well, they tried to not hear them but they could not help themselves. All these humans thinking about a million things at once, to the trio of outsiders it was pure chaos. They started to run for the subway stairs as if it would hold the shelter they needed to escape. The people that were walking towards them swerved around them, without realizing they were doing it. Finally the group descended the stairs and were greeted by an onslaught of new thoughts, with the incoming roar of a subway doing little to dull them. It came to a stop, it's doors opening to let old passengers off and new ones on. Nuit and Isis started to walk towards it to board but Lilith reached out a hand and stopped them.
“That's not the way we want,” Lilith said. Once the subway car had departed Lilith hopped down on the tracks. “This way.” Isis looked at Nuit hesitantly but Nuit simply shook her head to say they didn't have a choice in the matter. They lowered themselves down on the tracks to follow Lilith. They were led deep through subway tunnels that hadn't been traveled for quite some time before Lilith stopped them. “Here,” she said and placed her hand on the wall.
“There is nothing there,” Isis protested. Lilith didn't answer she just continued to run her hand along the wall.
“Come now Isis, you can't see plain as day that this is a false wall?” Lilith asked.
Isis shook her head but before she could say anything else Lilith made a noise of discovery. She pressed in a spot of the wall and a small square entrance along the bottom of the wall receded to form a crawlspace just large enough for them to squeeze through. Nuit thought that they would be able to stand straight and walk again just a little while in but they ended up crawling along the tunnel for the better part of an hour before it finally opened up into a cavern. It was a vast opening, and dark to the point they could no longer see.
“Does anyone have a light?” Nuit asked.
“No,” Isis said. Lilith held out a box of matches without a word. Nuit lit one and tried to see which they would be heading.
“I don't need light to find Emim, I can sense him. He's not far now,” Lilith said.
“The light isn't for you, it's for me so I can see where I'm going,” Nuit explained. “I may be immortal but that doesn't mean I can't break a leg.”
“Whatever,” Lilith said as she walked into the darkness.
“Are we really going to do this?” Isis asked Nuit.
“You're having second thoughts now?” Nuit asked in return.
“I guess you could say that,” Isis replied.
“Well, you're not the only one. I think we should see this through, at least Lilith to her son,” Nuit said.
“Are you coming?” Lilith hollered back from up ahead. Isis and Nuit hurried forward to catch up. “There's water here,” Lilith announced. They found themselves wading through waste deep water after just a step after it was to their ankles. It grew deep enough that they had to start to swim.
“How much longer?” Isis questioned awhile later, you could hear the tiredness in her voice.
“Shut up and keep swimming,” Lilith advised. Isis was about to protest but then decided against it. The trio kept swimming for what felt to them to be at least a couple of hours. Finally, the endless water became more shallow, until they were only ankle deep again. “Emim....” Lilith called softly.
A not quite human sound came back at them. It sounded almost as if Lilith's call had been twisted, then cast back at them.
“Emim!” Lilith called louder this time. Again, the horrible echo came back at them, loud enough that Isis and Nuit covered their ears, not that it did much good to drown out the sound.
Lilith did not need to call her forbidden child's name a third time, they turned right and found themselves in an illuminated corridor. The corridor opened into a large room, not quite large enough to be called a cavern, but big just the same. Inside the room they found the source of the light, Emim the nephilim. He was curled up in the fetal position, with his arms crossed on his chest. He had black wings, made of angel feathers, tucked underneath each other. He looked like an ordinary young male human otherwise, with thick black hair that matched the color of his wings that had grown long and shaggy in the millenia of this slumber. His eyes were closed and he did not stir when the three walked into the room.
“My presence has stirred his consciousness but he still sleeps,” Lilith said. “We need to get him into the presence of his brothers if he is to be truly awakened. Grab his legs,” Lilith commanded of Nuit and Isis. They grabbed Emim's legs as ordered. Lilith grabbed him by the arms. “Now concentrate on London.”
They all thought of London and the same thing happened as before, when they opened their eyes they found themselves on a London street.
Before when they had teleported no one had been able to see them. This time they remained unseen but the same could not be said for Emim the nephilim.
“Look an angel, mum,” the voice a little girl called out as she pointed at Emim.
Too late, the other three realized what was happening.
“That's not an angel,” an older man said. “Look at those black wings, it must be a demon.”
“No,” an even older man who happened to be a priest knew the correct answer. “That is a nephilim.” Many people now surrounded the group, eagerly reaching out their hands to touch Emim. Most of they bystanders were grasping for his wings but were settling for whatever part of him they could get their hands on.
“What do we do?” Nuit questioned Lilith.
“I don't know but we have to get out of here now,” Lilith answered. “Grab him.” The two renegade angels did as they were told and picked Emim up. “Quickly, this way,” Lilith commanded as she started to pull Emim southwards.
“It moves!” someone called. Everyone jumped back aghast as the three carried Emim quickly down the street as they could. People started to follow the body of Emim as it appeared to fly through the air just a little bit off the ground.
“Here we go,” Lilith called. She had stopped on a manhole cover. She stomped on it hard with the hooves Yahweh had seen fit to curse her with. Now, she found them to be a blessing. The manhole cover fell inward as the ground around it cracked with Lilith's stomping. She jumped into the hole she made pulling Emim out of Isis and Nuit's grasps and landing with a sharp noise of discomfort on her rump with Emim on top of her. Nuit and Isis quickly lowered themselves down and help Lilith to her feet.
They grabbed Emim just as they heard people gathered around the hole above them. They started jogging through the shallow sewer waste that flowed around them, awkwardly carrying Emim with them as they ran.
Voices continued to follow them, shouting at those behind them to hurry up and that the abnormality that had disrupted their everyday lives was just ahead. The three (four counting Emim) paid the voices no heed and continued to move as quickly as they could manage deeper into London's sewers. Soon the voices became fainter, eventually disappearing all together. Isis and Nuit were doubled over breathing heavy, trying to catch their breath. Lilith pulled on Emim to tell them it wasn't time to stop yet but Nuit vocally protested.
“Please, we need just a moments rest,” she plead.
Lilith, who no scribe ever deemed fit to be described as compassionate and rightfully so, refused. “We are so close to Rephaim now, I can not allow us to stop.”
“But Lilith-” Isis started to protest but Lilith sharply interrupted her.
“Stay then, I will not allow my son to be caught by those animals,” Lilith jerked Emim out of Isis and Nuit's grasp and started to walk away, Emim slung over her shoulders as if it were no effort to her to carry him.
Isis moved to follow Lilith but Nuit's hand stopped her. “We have the same goals, for now at least,” Nuit spoke. “We don't need to assist Lilith for her to be able to collect her children.”
“Where do we go then?” Isis asked.
“Why to Tokyo of course,” Nuit said with sincere mirth in her voice. “Don't you want to see what happens when the world gets torn apart? Plus, how much is that going to tear Him up? I wouldn't miss it for the world.” Nuit found this last part to be quite funny and chuckled at what she had just said.
“How will we get there though?” Isis asked. “If we don't have Lilith to teleport us? I've heard stories of our kind getting shot down while on here on Earth. I don't know about you but I'd like to avoid that if I can.”
“Do you really think a couple of bullets will stop us? We'll travel as we always have, with these,” as Nuit spoke she spread out her wings behind her.
“Alright then,” Isis conceded. “As long as you think we'll be safe.”
Meanwhile, Lilith had continued towards her second born son Rephaim. She found him in a similar subterranean cavern that she had found Emim in. She let Emim fall to the ground as she rushed forward to embrace her son.
“Rephaim...” she whispered as she started to rock him back and forth in her arms. His eyes slowly flickered open.
Now Emim's eyes were also open. Still, neither of them spoke or seemed cognizant of their surroundings. Lilith knew she had to now see this through and wake her youngest son Anakim who slept underneath Tokyo. She grabbed hold of their hands, one from each of them, and began to concentrate on teleporting them to Japan. She knew that they would probably be seen, how would she carry two of them quickly away from a crowd? There'd be no way. Lilith decided instead the best course of action ought to be to land directly Anakim was slumbering. But teleporting below ground was tricky work and the possibility they could end up in between a thick layer of stone was very real. Perhaps it was the shift in concentration that caused it, and that momentary thought that pushed it into reality, for when they arrived in Japan they were indeed in Anakim's chamber. Emim and Rephaim landed directly next to their kin, Lilith, however, was not so lucky.
She had landed in the center of a stalagmite that pierced her through her stomach and she lay impaled on as her children once again knew consciousness for the first time in a thousand years. They still did not speak, but there was intelligence inside every pair of those identical brown eyes that was unmistakable.
“Welcome back,” Lilith muttered before her eyes rolled back into her head and she lost consciousness herself. The nephilim paid her no mind, and instead shot upward with the force of a rocket, blasting through the layers of dirt and rock, not to mention the concrete and tar at the end of it. The force with which they shot up knocked the stalagmite that had pierced Lilith free from the ground and she rocketed to the surface along with them. At the top the stalagmite fell to the ground with Lilith still pinned inside. The nephilim immediately began to do what they do best, which was to destroy.
Isis and Nuit landed in Tokyo about an hour after the carnage had started. People were running everywhere screaming, there were multiple buildings on fire that no one seemed to be putting out. The nephilim had spread out, causing destruction everywhere they went. Here was a busted fire hydrant spraying water everywhere, here a car with the hood smashed in and the windshield smashed out, the alarm still blaring, struggling to be overheard by the the noises of its surroundings. Vehicles were abandoned everywhere, some abandoned because the road had been torn out by one of the nephilim when they passed through, others abandoned simply out of fear.
Nuit had pointed out the nephilim as they flew in from the sky but decided to land a bit away so that they could plot where to go from here.
“I'm thinking America,” Nuit said. “He has a lot of followers there that pride themselves on their faith and patriotism, maybe causing a bit of a ruckus there will show Him we won't be subjugated any longer.”
“I'm beginning to think this isn't so great of an idea, Nuit,” Isis timidly said.
“What? I thought you wanted to see this through to the end? What happened? Are you scared now of His wrath?” Nuit asked.
“It's not that all, it just feels wrong,” Isis was about to protest further when they came across Lilith still pinned with the stalagmite pierced through her chest.
“Hey,” Lilith called out a bit dreamily. “Is this what you wanted? Is this what you had in mind?”
“Yes,” Nuit answered quickly with a touch of malevolence flashing in her eyes. “Would you too abandon this?” Nuit waved her arms to signify the destruction the nephilim had wrought. “This is only the beginning! Think of it, Lilith, these are your children that are capable of such power, surely this is the task you had birthed them for!”
“I don't know about that,” Lilith said weakly. “There is nothing I wouldn't give to take this back now.”
Nuit snorted. “So you are both weak, very well I will finish this myself.” Nuit shot into the air and towards the nephilim, which she presumably was about to order to march on America. Whether or not they would have taken those orders is any body's guess.
“Are you going to be alright?” Isis asked of Lilith. “You're not going to...die, are you?”
“I don't know what's going to happen to me,” Lilith confessed. “I'm sure I have quite the punishment coming to me in whatever afterlife they deem fit for me though.”
“Can Nuit really control them?” Isis asked.
“They react to emotions, not verbal commands, so I suppose if she projects enough of her rage in the right direction, they'll get the idea and go there,” Lilith said.
“What if we were to stop them?” Isis asked.
“Last time it required Yahweh himself to stop them, which was kind of the point of this,” Lilith said.
“There is nothing you can do?”
“I guess I could try, but as I am currently I'm not much use,” Lilith answered.
“Hold still,” Isis commanded.
“Is that some sort of a joke?” Lilith asked in return, it was apparent to her that she was unable to move at all.
“I did not mean anything by it, I only wish to try and free you, now please, be quiet while I concentrate,” Isis placed one of her hands on the stalagmite sticking out of Lilith's chest and began to chant in the language of angels. Soon the rock began to glow and shimmer, eventually melting into a warm but not too warm liquid that ran down Lilith until it puddled on the ground. The hole in Lilith's chest instantly began to heal.
“It looks like I'll be alright for awhile yet,” Lilith said.
Isis nodded at this and held out her hand to Lilith. “Are you ready?”
Now it was Lilith's turn to nod. She spread her wings and started to flap them to lift off the ground but quickly stopped with a grimace of pain.
“Go on, you can stop her by yourself,” Lilith told Isis.
“Nay, if we are to be victorious this day it will be you that guides us there. Take my hand,” Isis reached out her hand for Lilith to grasp, which she did. Isis started to beat her wings and started to fly toward the direction Nuit had flown, carrying Lilith with her.
They found Nuit shouting at the nephilim to no avail. The three had gathered together and appeared to be chanting, they were in a tight circle with their backs facing outward.
“This can't go on, Nuit!” Isis shouted. Nuit ignored her and continued shouting at the nephilim.
“Go on, you beasts! We have the rest of the world to attack? What in-” Nuit realized whose name she was about to invoke and stopped herself.
“I thought you said she would be able to will them to attack elsewhere,” Isis said to Lilith.
“I thought so too, but her heart must not be as full of hate as she would have us believe,” Lilith said. “Look,” Lilith was pointing at her children that had now stopping chanting and had began glowing an incandescent blue. They started to rise skyward, still in the same circle they were on the ground.
“Wait, you bastards!'” Nuit cursed at the nephilim as they ascended. She started to fly up after them.
“Nuit!” Isis cried and tried to follow but Lilith stopped her.
“Let her do what she wills,” Lilith said.
“But she is my sister!” Isis protested. “I have to stop her!”
“If it is anyone's responsibility to stop this, it is mine,” Lilith reasoned. Isis tried to protest but Lilith hushed her. “These are my children and it is my fault and my weakness that allowed Nuit to talk me into this. I must be the one to still it.” Again Isis tried to protest but Lilith silenced her. “I will see this task complete, rest assured.”
“Please, let me help!” Isis begged.
“It would be in your best interest if you went back home now,” Lilith said without looking at Isis. Her gaze lay north, watching as her children glowed with what could very well be enough energy to destroy this entire island nation as well how ever much of coastal Asia it would take with it.
Nuit had caught up to the nephilim now and she reached out to grab the arm of Anakim.
“No!” Lilith cried as she covered the distance between herself and Nuit with a sonic boom. She through herself in between Anakim and Nuit's grasp. Nuit's hand grabbed a hold of Lilith's robe. Nuit had intended to toss Lilith aside but before she could Lilith turned around and embraced Anakim. With a blinding roar of white light Anakim flashed and exploded, taking his mother with him in a blast that knocked back both Nuit and Isis who had begun flying to assist Lilith.
Emim and Rephaim fell to the ground. No longer glowing, they both sat motionless. Simultaneously they both started to cry. Whether it was for their lost brother or lost mother or both It was not a normal human cry and sounded even more horrible coming in unison from those twin sets of lips. Thankfully, both Nuit and Isis had been partially deafened by the blast.
For a few brief moments everyone sat still, ash continued to rain down from the remains of Lilith and Anakim. It was a morbid snow, but somehow at the same time entrancing. Finally, Nuit stood up on shaky legs.
“You're lucky you didn't all blow!” Nuit shouted as she walked increasingly sturdier until she reached the nephilim. “You're power would be wasted here,” Nuit said to the nephilim.
“You can't be serious Nuit,” Isis said to her sister, now standing trying to walk towards her. “Lilith gave her life so that she could stop one of them. We must do the same.”
“Why?! So we can continue to serve every second in His servitude? I will not be a slave,” Nuit fumed. She turned back towards the remaining nephilim Emim and Rephaim. “Do you understand me?” she asked. They both shook their heads yes. “Do you wish to avenge your slain brother?” Again, the dual nod.
“For the love of Father, why must your persist?” Isis was now furious to the point of tears as she advanced on her sister.
“Get her,” Nuit commanded of her two new recruits. Emim and Raphael both stood up and started walking towards Isis. Isis stopped and spread her wings out.
She tilt her head back and shouted, “Father! Give me strength!” Anyone that had been around to be a witness even if they were a non-believer would have been swayed at the point, for Isis seemed to grow at least five times her normal size. “Well, Nuit, I give you one last chance. Give this foolish plan up,” Isis' voice now boomed with thunderous bursts.
“I will not. Your little present from Father simply shows how weak you are. Behold the power I hold myself,” Nuit started to shimmer a soft shade of green and grew longways until she was quite serpentine. She slithered behind her two nephilim defenders, and at a nod from Nuit a piece they both found giant spears with serrated obsidian points. They ran forward thrusting their spears out at Isis, but the best they could do was slash her kneecaps. She was proportionate to the point that they were little more the scratches though. Isis balled up her fist and slammed it down on Rephaim but at the last second he jabbed his spear upward and it sunk deep with Isis' hand. Isis' blow knocked Rephaim down but he quickly stood up again to scurry forward to where Emim stood in a defensive position. Isis knew she would have to take one of them soon before she was unable to focus. She gathered as much energy to her as she could and transferred it into her mind by visualizing it being a tiny ball of light actually nestled down in whatever grey matter she had. Once she felt like she had gathered all she could she sent it along an invisible path towards Emim who stood closest to her. It vaporized him in much the same way his mother and brother went, with an explosion leaving nothing but ashes behind.
Now, Rephaim cried and even managed to articulate his brother's name. “Emim!” it was a fierce growl full of more sorrow then Isis had anticipated. For a moment she felt a touch of panic. What had she done? Had she really just killed another creature? Before she could ponder it too much further she found herself face to face with Nuit's face on a giant serpents body.
“You will pay for that,” Nuit hissed at Isis.
Isis placed one hand on her head as if she had a headache. The mental exertion from that attack had left her considerably more weakened then she had hoped for. There was still two of them and only one of her.
Isis decided it was a good time for prayer again. She fell to her giant knees which now allowed Rephaim to swipe at her thighs, but to this she was oblivious. “Please Father, if you would be rid of this creature from your beautiful Earth please deliver me the means to make it happen, amen.” This time there was apparently no answer and Isis nervously took a step backward.
Rephaim had climbed onto Nuit's back, near the back of her head. Nuit darted in towards Isis and Rephaim swiped at Isis' face slashing it open with his spear. Giant red drops of blood rained down from the wound splattering the ground. Isis cried out and shouted again as she shrunk back down to her previous size. Now she lay on the ground with her sister's serpent form hovering above her. A big, cruel smile played across Nuit's face as she snaked her head in close near Isis' face.
“Now my dear sister, I'm afraid you have lost,” Nuit said.
“I'm afraid you're wrong,” Isis spoke. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed.
“Isis? What do you mean?” Nuit was most certainly about to ask another question when Rephaim who was still standing on her back took his spear and plunged it into Nuit's head. She shrieked furiously and tried to buck off Rephaim who she now realized had been possessed by Isis. She threw Rephaim off and curled up tightly in on herself as she made a whining sound that was almost too high pitched to hear. Rephaim now turned the spear on himself and drove it upward through his neck with enough force that he expired. He didn't explode as his other two brothers did, instead he vanished. One moment he was there and the next he was simply gone without there even being ash to mark his passing.
Isis sat up heaving and choking. She walked over to where Nuit lay whimpering and placed one hand on her sister's snake body. It instantly reverted back to her angel form, there was a large gash in her head where Isis had Rephaim strike her.
“That really was a bit much I guess,” Nuit finally admitted as she lay dazed. Isis looked at her eyes but they really didn't seem to see her. “Do you think there's an afterlife for us?” Nuit asked Isis.
“Come on now, don't be silly,” Isis answered. “You know very well you'll live through this, that there is nothing you can't live through.”
“I know that. I know that the life I am familiar with is probably all I ever will know. Can I really be faulted for wanting something else?” Nuit asked. Her voice trembled as she spoke, and now one solitary tear rolled from her eye down her blood-covered cheek.
“No you can't, for I did as well. If you remember I was with you at the start of this,” Isis pulled her sister into her arms so that she was now holding her and lightly stroking the hair on her head.
“I do remember that, sister. Now there is one thing I would have you remember, if you would indulge me,” Nuit's eyes had finally found some cognizance and stared upward at Isis.
“What would you have me remember?” Isis asked.
“When you talk to Him next, I'm pretty sure he won't talk to me again, at least for a long while, so it will have to be you, tell him I'm sorry,” Nuit now had both eyes streaming steady tears.
“Aye, sister, I will tell him,” when Isis finished speaking Nuit immediately fell asleep in her arms. Isis started to croon a lullaby as she might if she were a mortal human holding an infant. Soon, Isis fell asleep as well.

Nuit had no idea how long she had been unconscious when she came to. She recognized her surroundings as Purgatory. There were no other people around. She was disgusted to find that she wore the snake form she had worn however long ago it had been the day they woke the nephilim. The wound on her head had at least healed. Before she could wander anywhere else she felt herself whisked away. She was teleported to the desk where Lilith had once greeted those new to Purgatory and directed them to whichever way they needed to go. There was a long line of people in front of her but Nuit ignored their cries to be helped to gaze instead down at the note before her on the desk.
Nuit – Enjoy – Y. it read.
She bit her lip to keep from screaming. This was her punishment? And to tell her to enjoy it, Nuit felt a rush of hatred again for her creator but it was silenced by the old man at the front of her line trying to get her attention.
“Are you there?” he was all but screaming now in Nuit's face.
She shook away her feelings and smiled at the man. “What can I do for you?”
“I declare this land to be under my control! For the glory of my family!” the old man yelled.
“Ah yes, if you could go ahead and wait in that line over there,” Nuit pointed at the long snaking line of people off in the distance.
The man tried to argue but Nuit silenced him and he found himself on his way over to the other line.
“Next?” Nuit called.
She continued to direct those that came to Purgatory for a long time. It wasn't quite what she had wanted but in time she came to find that she did actually enjoy it.

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