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  The Fall of Aries

  Book 0 of The Zodiac Series

  Paul Sating

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any situations or similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2020 Paul Sating.

  All rights reserved.

  No parts of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Cover Design: Jake at jcalebdesign.com

  1 - All

  The First Moment in Time

  "Be."

  I peeled my eyes open. Eyes. They were called that, I knew, from the instant I decided to use them, even without knowing why. Just as I knew my ears even before they received their first sounds; just like I knew my hair as it flitted in the slight wind of the All. As my eyes, the eyes I always and never knew, took in the boundless and bountiful nothingness of the realm and the small group of the First who stood near as we woke. As we became. I knew all these things, about myself and more, in the first instant of creation.

  "Welcome," an ambiguous voice said, echoing from everywhere. Soft, sweet, firm, and deep. "You are the Firsts of your name, the first of your kind, none greater than the other. All equal in the Balance."

  I looked at the others, less than twenty, who stood as I did, unashamed in our skin and curious; knowledgeable yet naïve.

  Twinkling of points of light in the far distance sparkled, drawing my attention to the birth of life. And I knew. Smiles from those gathered, shared and spread. Those called demons; those called angels. Men, women, both at once, and neither at all.

  All.

  We represented everything that was, and everything there would be.

  We, the demons. Our names, the first of any, sounded natural to our ears. Our connection told us so.

  "Nahmah," One said from somewhere in the nothingness that was everything, their voice twinkling. "You are the Princess of Demons and will lead the First. Asmodeus, you the Second. Mammon, you the Third. Leviathan, the Fourth. Aries, the Fifth." And this went on and on. Not only for all nine Circles of the Underworld, but also for the Seven Heavens. For each, there was a First, in life's initial breath.

  And we all knew.

  "Where are we?" I asked, understanding this was All, but hoping to know more.

  To my left, my right, above and below, in every direction, One chuckled. The depths of the All returned the sound in our direction. It was deep and rich, light and playful. It was every sound. "This is All."

  Yuki-onna, her healthy skin ashen, sniffed. "This is nothing."

  "This is everything," the voice said with another bounteous chuckle, light like a feather's dance. "But this is not your Home, not your place."

  I knew that. Everyone did. The head nods from demons and angels, served as a universal sign of understanding.

  "You will soon see your eternal Home. Patience. You have long lives ahead, and much work to do. There is no hurry. Take time now and come to know one another. When I depart, you must begin your journey, charting your own path without my knowledge. The relationships you build in this very fraction of existence are key to sustaining eternity. I will leave you to it."

  The voice, the unseen presence, drifted away, back to somewhere in the blackness, beyond the veneer curtain of Time that even light could not penetrate. My yearning was instantaneous.

  "Well," Raphael exclaimed, blowing out a small breath. "Becoming, born into existence is intense."

  He was a tall angel, with long, flowing blond hair not nearly as thick as my deep black locks. His smile was unsure.

  "All of this is," Enoch, a short angel with red blotches spotting his face, said in a quivering voice. "Why can't we see anything?"

  No one answered. Not the angels, Michael, Saraquel, Remiel, or the others. None of the demons, Intep, Legion, Belphegor, among us, had words to satisfy Enoch's curiosity.

  The answer came before I thought it through. "Because we have experienced nothing. We cannot see what we haven't already seen. Hear what we haven't heard. Smell that which we have not smelled. Tasted that which we haven't eaten. We will come to know these things now that we have become."

  "Deep," Gabriel, well over six feet tall and broad-shouldered from the moment of his creation, said with a slow, deep head nod. "Profound, actually."

  "Anyone afraid to start?" Raguel, his brown skin shining like a warm light, smiled excitedly.

  Mammon shrugged his thick, rounded shoulders. "I'll take whatever the rest of you don't want. If you can't handle it or would rather explore the rest of Home, I say do it. Why shackle yourself with responsibility? If you're giving things away, be sure to do so in this direction."

  A thick, rich laugh came from the clump of angels. The tallest one, well over six feet and with an immaculate beard and short brown hair, stepped forward. He had loosed the laugh. There was a twinkle in his eye of a nature I could not discern.

  "Not likely, my friend," Michael said, spreading his arms and turning to his peers. "I think we will be too busy with the tasks that await for us."

  "Share in them if the burden is too much, I say," Mammon laughed, looking to us, his fellow demons. If he was seeking validation or camaraderie, he received none. His smile fell, and he turned to face Michael. "Just a joke, friend."

  Michael nodded, but the questionable glint in his eyes remained strong. "I'm sure it was. Still, I, we, would be more than appreciative if you refrained from such things in the future. At least when dealing with us."

  Two minutes into our existence and we're having a go at one another.

  "This one is stiff," Yuki-onna said, looking the tall angel up and down.

  "I'd like to test that theory," Asmodeus smiled. Her full lips curved, like she saw Michael as tasty in a potential of ways.

  Saraquel lifted her pointed chin, spotted with faint whiskers. "That's quite enough. Should we finish matters and get to work, or dally here for eternity, entertaining this … churlish demon? I'm sure we all have better things to do."

  "Better things than to trade insults?" I asked, stepping forward and drawing seventeen sets of immortal eyes. I waved like I was slicing the empty space with the back of my hand. "Let's focus on what we need to accomplish here and be on our way. You were correct, Michael. We have a lot to do. And soon. I'm all for getting to it. So, it's nice to meet all of you, and I hope we have healthy and productive relationships for eons to come."

  Looking down at the black nothingness of the All, into the something that was nothing, I closed the space between the angels and my tribe of demons. Distorted points of light danced behind the veil of time and space, obscured by its impermeable veneer. I wanted to reach down and touch it, to snare the essence of the origins of everything, to feel the immense power and incomprehensible knowledge. But I knew, because I was born to know, that I should not, could not contain such a gift.

  There was a job to do. One had assigned our tasks, and we needed to set about them.

  Michael's confident smile flickered as I neared and extended my hand. "I'm Aries. It's nice to meet you. I'll be taking over the Fifth—"

  "The Fifth Circle," he nodded, drawing a slow breath through his nose. "The Circle of Wrath, is it?"

  I pinched my lips. "That's the word."

  He patted my shoulder. "Good luck with that. Sounds like you're going to have your hands full. Don't envy you."

  "And you?"

  He cocked his head.

  "Are you happy to tend the High Gardens? From what we know, it sounds like it could be a very interesting place …" I caught myself. "I mean once I understand what cliff sides and hanging gardens look like." I finished with a nervous laugh.

  Michael leaned closer, casting a glance toward the other demons and angels who were just now beginning to mingle. "Kind of fuzzy for you too? The details, I mean?"

  I smirked. "Yep. Like I should understand and can make out the general shape, but the finer details are …"

  "Lost in the fog," he finished.

  "Exactly," I laughed, looking around, enthusiastic about experiencing the future since I only understood the inception of time. "So, Yahweh. Excited to work for him?"

  Michael nodded confidently. "Yes. Yes, I think so. It will interesting, for sure. What about you? Lucifer? Do you know the same about Him as I do?"

  We squinted and broke out into simultaneous laughter.

  Michael pulled back his lips. "You'll need to step up, I bet."

  I turned and watched the sudden explosion of voices as Intep yelled at Raguel, who shouted in response, while Remiel shouted at Asmodeus. When my eyes found Michael's again, we couldn't hold back the next round of hearty laughter.

  "I think we all will if this is how we start," I said.

  "Totally agree."

  ***

  The laughter stopped with the presence of One, immediate and intense. Overwhelming, it filled the nothing ness with its everything.

  "Aries," One said, vanquishing all sound of the All. One was the All. I imagined that was the script to existence, occurring wherever someone felt One's presence. "I need a moment."

  "Of course," I said, clasping my hands behind my back—why, I didn't know, but my calling was to model the appropriate behaviors for those who would come later. "How shall I—"

  A flood, intense and full, washed over my mind. I knew about Home—the realm where I would manage a part of the Underworld to help keep the Balance between angels and demons so mortals would survive and thrive. I knew about life, meaning, and purpose. I understood where the mortals were in this moment of their non-existence, when and in what form they would arrive. I even understood their struggles before they knew themselves. But one thing I did not know was the All. Where One was, how to find them? A mystery.

  "Here, child," the father's voice of the mother said. "Find me."

  And I did. Without taking a single step, no movement, no decision made. I was with One, but not.

  The utter lack of everything filled the All, but One was there beside me.

  "I saw what you did, and I am pleased," One said, and their love filled me. "How you made peace at the first sign of strife. You handled that efficiently."

  I wasn't sure what to say, but I understood what I was feeling. The need to please One was overwhelming, all-consuming. "Thank you. It didn't seem like much, I must confess."

  "In time, you will find that seldom do grand gestures make the difference. The small tokens, displayed day in and day out, will change misfortunes to fortunes, tragedies to celebrations, despair to hope. All of you will be examples, beacons for the mortals. It is your job to lead them, to teach them. To guide. They are of us, but not us. They will try, and they will fail. They will strive and become frustrated. They will conquer and be conquered. They will hate and they will love. They will boldly explore and fearfully cower."

  "Will they Be? Like us?"

  Behind the black veneer of All, I sensed One shaking their head that, without form, was not a head. "They cannot be, for they are not the same. Their mortality denies them of that. Which is why your kind will teach them. So they can learn. Otherwise, they would be left to their own devices and … their kind are not capable."

  "I see." And I did. I knew these things without being told, just as each of my counterparts did. Thinking of them, I asked, "Will it always be like this? Between us, the angels and demons. We have only existed for fractions of seconds, and we're already pulling and tugging on one another."

  The All shimmered as One chuckled, their laugh filled with the mother's joy and a father's pride. "Any balance is precarious. That is why you have become. It may take millennia for some of them to learn that. Tens of millennia, possibly hundreds, for them to grasp what it means. They will falter and stumble along the way, because a true balance has a narrow fulcrum, and will require everyone's best to be maintained."

  I looked at my feet, ashamed at not having the knowledge. "But perfect creatures shouldn't take millennia to learn to work together. We should all, similarly, understand what it requires."

  "Ah, child, but none of you are perfect. There can only be one in perfection, and that is the All. The All is everything it can be and everything it will ever be. A system of perfection, the blends and weaves that provide."

  I jerked back slightly at the comment. It was not the answer I expected. "But that would mean you are not perfect."

  Silence fell, as thick as the mass of the All, between demon and Creator. One was giving me time to process the implications.

  In time, I knew.

  One sounded pleased when they spoke. "So you see how it is, child, and how it must be."

  "Yes."

  A wisp of a twinkle sounded, like a thousand fragments of the lightest gemstone cascading against stone from a short height. A pleasant, tranquil sound. Before me, in the All, a foot long stick of petrified cherry wood formed, suspended in the blackness.

  "Take it," One said. "It is yours to protect."

  My fingers wrapped around the wood. It was light, weighing no more than a feather. The balance of the truncheon was perfect. "What is it?"

  "A time will come when you must gift that to another, one who will be what your species needs, when they need it. When you gift it, explain their destiny to the best of your abilities. The balance must be preserved. Until that time, it is to be kept with you, safe from the influences and machinations of others."

  I looked at the perfectly symmetrical, foot-long piece of cherry. Four inches in circumference, it easily fit in my hand. "Others will maneuver for this?"

  Behind the veneer of black, something moved, a shimmer of form, of ambiguity. "Many will. You are not All. You are of it, but not it. You are imperfect. Just as I am, just as the mortals will be." More movement behind that thin barrier. "You saw how your kind reacted at the instant of their creation. Given time, their threads will become complex, layers added, darning tears, and the dynamic will shift. That is part of the Balance, for we are all bound by it. That which you hold is more than it appears and it will be an important tool in how the story of your Home unfolds. Go ahead, what you imagine it to be is profound when you see it. Birth it."

  I didn't need to ask how. The knowledge was there. I looked into the nothingness of everything of the All, toward where the ambiguous shape moved. Gripping the stick, I gave it a shake. Instantly, it sprang to six feet long, sprouting a double ax head at the top and a wavy six-inch dagger at the bottom. The asymmetrical and half-moon axes did not add any more weight than the thinner, edged blade. The stick, now a halberd, remained perfectly balanced. All three of the blades were the same gray, cold steel. It was a gorgeous halberd, but not completely remarkable.

  One chuckled, light and full, deep with bass. "It is more than it appears. When you find Home, it will become what it is meant to be. First, it must feed on the fire. Protect it with your very life, child, for you are its protector. You must hold it until the one who wields is ready to liberate."

  I knew my calling even as One give me the directive. I would protect the halberd with everything I had, and everything I was. I would shield it from harm as if it were the only child I would ever have, because it was.

  "I will," I told One through a dry throat, overwhelmed by the honorable responsibility.

  "I know," One said, filling me with pride. "What will you name it?"

  I pulled my eyes away from the halberd to seek out the one who cannot be found. "Name it?"

  "All grand weapons have names, as you will see in time. This is the first, the tool of a liberator, but it can be much more than that if you teach the liberator. This can, if they choose, embody their beliefs and aims. It can guide them. What will you name it?"

  I held the halberd aloft in an extended arm. Its newborn blades gleamed against the achromatic nothingness, a focal point in the endless eternity. A name. The first of the named. Principles, to guide. And I knew. "If this is to guide the liberator, then I will call it Creed."

  2 - Underworld

  Ages came, and ages went. Home transformed in the blink of an eye as eternity passed.

  As the first residents of Home, the mortal coil, we watched and observed, readying ourselves for the arrival. And soon they came, first in elementary form, and then gradually but swiftly evolving into a bounty of species, each distinct, yet related. So very different, but of the same family. All of One; one with the All.

  From the early Hominins to the Australopithecines and their vigorous cousins, of which the Australopithecus africanus was my favorite, to the homo erectus, life expanded. It was exciting and daunting to observe, stimulating, and if I'm being honest, boring at times. Lifetimes bloomed, blossomed, and crumbled to dust in their time.

  When humans evolved into their own branch on the tree of life, things became interesting. Sure, there were squabbles and struggles throughout the ages, but simplicity drove early motivations. It wasn't until Homo rudolfensis and Homo erectus came along that the interweaving became truly complex, especially when we changed as they did. Adding Homo neanderthalensis and Homo floresiensis, and the such to the mix, complicated to the extent that we, the Firsts of our name, began making mistakes. Teaching was easy until the students chose paths without answers. Long before Homo sapiens arrived, One delivered the disturbing news that we were not eternal. We had been given the ages to ready Home for complex life, and we had fumbled along the way, though ultimately succeeded.

 

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