The Descent of the Gods

Despair

Enoch had been returned to the dark dungeon where only weeks previously he had first met Naamah and Caleb. It seemed like ages ago! Since then, angels had descended from the sky, driven back the attacking Herabites, and began refacing the city and the inhabitants therein. 

So much had changed with their coming. Enoch had chosen to remain in Nod, to learn all he could from these heavenly messengers.Enoch and Tubal had once fought desperately against each other. But with the angels coming, the two were forced to work together, even if the truce did not last long. He had met Naamah, and learned that good things could come out of Nod. He had risked his life to give the messenger a chance to take on an emerging enemy. His gamble had failed miserably. 

And here he was again, a captive underneath the city he had long despised. And Azrael had sent him here. He still could not believe it. 

From out of the shadows, Enoch heard his name being called softly. 

"Here! Who's there?" He replied.

Caleb cautiously emerged from the darkness that surrounded Enoch's barred cage. 

"Can you get me out of here?" Enoch pleaded.

Caleb shook the bars. They didn't budge, and neither did the lock. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry Enoch."

"What will you tell your people? The messenger has fallen. The enemy has won."

"Adam will know what we must do. I must return to him now. We must get ready, I fear for Eden with fallen angels upon the earth. They made slaves of the Cainites for their own ends, and if others do not bow, they will enslave more."

"And I must die?" Enoch said.

Caleb bowed his head. It was a long moment before he replied.

"Enoch, they expect a guilty man to die tomorrow."

"Show them something else, Enoch! Show them something they've never seen before."   

A guard appeared suddenly, waving a torch and charging towards Caleb.

"You! Stop!"

Caleb ran, but shouted over his shoulder as he disappeared into the darkness.

"Show them how the righteous face death!"

Enoch settled onto the cold stone floor, his head in his hands.

"How do the righteous die?"

Caleb burst out of a doorway leading into the prison. He fled down the street, a crowd of guards now close behind. Tubal suddenly joined them.

"Sir! A slave sneaked into the prison! He was talking with the blasphemer."

Tubal outpaced the others, determined to catch the fleeing man. But Caleb was too fast for even him. 

As they reached the river, Caleb ran out onto the sand. He stopped, turned and stood motionless in the moonlight as Tubal approached. He showed no signs of trying to flee anymore.

Tubal slowed.

"Nowhere to run?"

"So it would seem."

Tubal stopped, just a few paces from Caleb.

"My men are right behind me, so don't try anything," Tubal said. "You're fast for an old man. Who are you?"

"A slave," Caleb replied. "Like you."

Tubal just laughed. Caleb did not.

"While I breath," Caleb said. "I will not see the world enslaved to false gods. Your people subjugated many peoples, to labor at your every command. I will see that tradition broken."

Tubal realized his men should have arrived by now. He turned around, and saw them laying on the ground near the wall construction area - being bound by more men dressed in slave's garments. They had been skillfully and silently ambushed at the wall!

Tubal's hand went to his sword, but he never pulled it out. A punch from Caleb's powerful fist knocked him senseless into the sand.

Caleb, Jehuda and their companions quickly shoved hidden boats into the waters of the Euphrates river.

Caleb pushed an oar into the sand, sending the boat into deep water. Jehuda stared back at Nod's rising walls. Tubal's body lay still just above the waterline.

"That's the last of Nod I wish to see," Jehuda said.

As the river tide slowly rose, the water eventually reached Tubal's body. The cold lapping waves roused him from his comatose state. He stood, and saw the marks in the sand where boats had been dragged around his body. His bound comrades were nowhere to be seen.

He staggered back into the city, limbering up as he stretched out his legs. 

"Follow them and destroy them," were the orders Semyaza gave him immediately after hearing his report.

"Who were they? They did not speak like any tribe I know from these parts."

"Just do it. They cannot be allowed to escape!"

"Consider it done," Tubal swore, rubbing his jaw where Caleb had punched him.

Tubal led one hundred mounted soldiers galloping over the bridges and into the forest beyond. The three drawbridges were raised up again after they passed.

Semyaza watched from the first guard tower, where massive cables and pulleys were housed to lift the massive timber frame bridges. 

As the hoof beats fades, all became quiet. 

Semyaza stared out into the night.

"What do you look for?" A solider asked him.

Suddenly, one of the guards at the first guardhouse let out a cry.

"Something is coming!"

"Where?"

"In the water!"

Semyaza's eyes fell to the black waters far below them. Something massive was moving toward Nod's shoreline.

"Sound the alarm!" A solider shouted. Semyaza seized his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"LET IT PASS," Semyaza said. 

The dark form emerged from the river and stood on Nod's shore. 

"He is here."