I dive into the sand and take them into my hands.
Heimdall lowers the horn and shouts, "Lucifer, your day has come. Stand down or be banished to Hell for an eternity."
The energy from the gemstones flows into me.
Lucifer scrambles to get the stones, but I have the power to force him back. "It's over," I say. "You've lost."
His eyes burn a fiery red. "I have worked tirelessly for this," he shouts. "I will not let you steal my glory."
But his cries are meaningless. I lift the gemstones and focus on the power of the universe. All of man's experiences flow into me. And then, out of nowhere, I can hear her voice.
"Ash, I'm coming," she says.
"Raven! Where are you?"
"It's beautiful up here, Ash. I wish you could see it," she says.
"I couldn't protect you," I say. "I... I failed you."
She's far away, soaring somewhere deep inside the cosmos.
"You didn't," she says. "Don't give up on us."
My heart pounds. I open my eyes and watch as the angels burst forth from their shells. Light flows and expands around them until they can stand again.
"Life can't exist in the darkness," I say.
The gems turn off.
Lucifer turns erratic and pathetic. He takes out his pistol and fires at the angels. His bullets do no damage.
"You... what have you done?"
"I have betrayed you as you betrayed the gods epochs ago," I say.
He screams. "Who gives you the authority of the gods?"
I raise my chin into the air
as a halo forms around my head. Lifting one finger, I send him flying into the air. The angels' eyes shoot a great light out, catch him in a force field. Draining him of his power.
"Don't be foolish. I have always been a god," I say.
All of the angels rise to the ground. Above my head, their wings extend outward as they circle around Lucifer's floating body.
"Stand down, and I will offer you mercy. I will end the council of the gods, and you will all be granted clemency for an eternity," Lucifer states.
As charming as his words are, something even more powerful cuts him off. It's the sound of a great demon.
"You have ruined everything," Lucifer mutters. "He will kill us all," he says.
A thousand corpses covered in flies, beetles, and locusts form into one giant demon. Beelzebub in all of his glory looks like nothing I have ever seen before.
His horns are as big as mountains. His mouth is as dark and deep as the oceans. His body is as red as magma from the planet’s core.
The smell emanating from his body is atrocious, and the nearer it gets to us, the darker my thoughts become.
I start to take a few big steps back.