The Metatronic Chronicles: A Minor Inconvenience
Chapter 6

Michael had not arrived yet when Daniel got home. It was nearly five o’clock by then and Mary was just putting some raw steaks on the grill. James had not arrived home from work yet either. “Where’s Michael?” She asked carefully, knowing that both boys would have had bad days today.

“I don’t know. He got pissed at me and flew off,” Daniel shrugged. “Make mine very rare.”

“All right.” Mary’s eyes showed her worry. “Did he say anything before he went?”

“Nope.” Daniel went inside the house and upstairs to his room. When he opened the door he nearly screamed when he saw a completely naked angel sitting on the bed there. Asmodeus had returned. “Jeezus!” Daniel spat as he tossed his books on the bed next to the big angel. “You scared the snot out of me!”

Asmodeus ignored his outburst. “I figured out what was making you sick in the church,” he said as he curiously picked up and examined a history textbook that had fallen open. “It was the Metatronic soul. It was trying to enter you and your human body kept rejecting it. Every time you came back in the church, it would try again. It didn’t recognize that you weren’t quite physically ready and couldn’t harbor it.”

“Really?” Daniel said as he took off his jacket and began to peel off his t-shirt. “So why did it go into Michael when we returned?”

“It was better able to choose when you both were in fully angelic form. It chose Michael because he is one of the most powerful of us. His body could take it without a problem.”

“In other words, I’m just a schmuck angel without much street cred, right?” Daniel tried to make light of the subject.

“No, you are a duty angel with other things to do. Michael is here specifically to raise Metatron to adulthood.”

“And I am supposed to do…?” Daniel asked. “Duties?”

“As assigned, yes. You’ll have plenty to keep you busy but before any of this happens, you have to undergo some training and orientation, so to speak.”

“Training? Like what kind of training?” Daniel didn’t like the sound of this.

“How many times have you flown since you got your wings?” Asmodeus asked. “Three? Maybe four times if you count the trip to the church?”

“Well, we flew coming down from space, and flew a little bit on Saturday night. Then we flew to the church and you brought us back. Other than that, we’ve been walking everywhere.” Daniel didn’t want to mention that though he had the basics of flying down, the experience was frightening to him. He felt out of control and even got dizzy at great heights so he kept to the treetops.

“You have to understand that an angel who does not fly is not an angel at all. You must learn to use the abilities that are innate and to hone the skills that Daniel still refuses to share with you so far. Since he is maintaining his distance, you have to learn them for yourself.”

“What skills are you talking about?” Daniel wished Asmodeus would disappear.

“Fighting, for one. You must learn to defend yourself against attack.”

“Attack? By whom?” This angel thing was growing old fast.

Asmodeus stifled a smile. “By other angels, of course. Do you think we all love each other? Look at Daniel’s reaction to Michael last night. The two detest each other and that’s part of the reason they are on assignment together. It is up to you and your brother to bring them together at least well enough for them to be able to work together without bloodshed.”

“Um…Daniel had a really big shiny sharp-looking sword,” Daniel gulped.

“That was an angelic broadsword, which is mostly used in battle. Daniel always has it and therefore so do you. We are going to teach you how to retrieve it, how to use it and how to kill with it. You will also learn other forms of angelic martial arts and also the history and culture of angelic beings. In short, you are going to night school.”

No—no more school! Daniel abhorred the thought of learning anything else besides his regular school courses. But he kept quiet about it and instead asked, “Uh…who is teaching this…um…class?”

Asmodeus ignored the question. “You’ll be taking up exercise nightly and tonight I’m going to guide you to the home of your teacher. This way you will get in some flight time, learn some basic navigation techniques and get started on your new studies. Where is your brother?”

Daniel hated the sound of this. “I’m not sure. He became Michael and took off on me. Who is the teacher? Where are we going? Do I have time for dinner?”

“Are you hungry?” Asmodeus asked.

Daniel had to admit, he wasn’t hungry at all. He hadn’t been really hungry since returning from that horrible fall from the sky. “No, not really. But seriously, where are we going? When do I get to sleep? I have homework to do!”

“You’ll have plenty of time to do your homework and sleep is something you can skip for now. Michael is probably up in the sky somewhere, so we will replace him and then go to meet your teacher.” Asmodeus suddenly grinned at him. “I think you’ll like him!”

Moments later, Daniel had asked Mary to put his steak on ice, bid her goodbye and followed Asmodeus up into the sky as she watched fretfully. As usual, he began getting dizzy at about one thousand feet and slowed down.

“If you don’t conquer this now, you’ll be land bound for a very long time!” Asmodeus told him telepathically. The high winds whipped his long curls around his face as he hovered, waiting for Daniel to catch up. “The only way to lose the fear is to do it and I am not willing to wait for you to decide whether you want to do it or not. You are going to do it or I will make you wish you had!” Asmodeus had lost the good nature he had shown below and before Daniel hovered a giant war angel with multitudes of scars from battles past. It was clear that his patience had limits.

Michael suddenly descended from far above and joined them. “Where are we going?” He asked, showing that the young teenager inside him had regained control. “Are we going to miss dinner?”

“You don’t need dinner,” Asmodeus said. “Follow me!” With a graceful swoop of his wings, the angel took off at a high rate of speed, heading westward. “We should be there in about ten minutes if you don’t get us lost!”

Daniel gulped and closed his eyes as he took off after him, pushing himself to speeds he hadn’t dared to try yet. When he opened them again seconds later, the earth seemed to be whizzing along below, as they got higher until he could see the curvature of the horizon. Wherever they were going, they would get there very quickly.

Sure enough, about ten minutes later Asmodeus was leading them in descent over southern California. Daniel only knew it was Southern California because of the smog he saw rising from Los Angeles to San Diego--beyond that laid the Pacific Ocean. They continued their descent, keeping well out of air lanes even though they were covered by the darkening night sky. Asmodeus had mentioned that an angel running into a jet liner was not a good thing. A full on collision would send the plane down and a glancing blow would probably send the angel down, at least temporarily.

The mountains below grew close. “San Bernardino, Big Bear, Palm Springs” Asmodeus pointed out geographic landmarks. “The San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Susana Range, Angeles National Forest, Mount Wilson, Interstates 5 and 405, the Hollywood sign, Capitol Records building. These are all things that will help you get around. Everywhere you go, make note of the landmarks, the roads, the rivers and lakes and topography. It will come easily to you if you put your mind to it. Eventually, there will be no place on the planet that you are not familiar with intimately!” He did a quick barrel loop. “And then we start you in space!”

Daniel didn’t have a chance to respond before Asmodeus suddenly began a downward dive toward a very expensive looking neighborhood nestled on the side of one of the mountains overlooking the San Fernando Valley. Mystified, the two young angels followed as they headed toward what seemed to be one of the most luxurious homes. It was a three-story affair attached to the hillside, surrounded by twenty acres of trees, with two large pools, a garage with space for at least six cars and lots of privacy. The house wasn’t lit even though the sun was well over the mountain behind it, burying it in shadow.

Asmodeus came into land on a large deck built out of the hillside. It was furnished sparsely, only a small cheap looking lawn chair or two and it occurred to Daniel that the deck was perfect for angels landing under cover of darkness.

The intricate French doors that led inside were unlocked and Asmodeus walked in as if he owned the house, which both boys knew he didn’t.

Inside, the house was more expansively furnished but still not what Daniel would think of as looking “lived in”. They apparently had walked into the home’s a cavernous, nearly empty living room. The few furnishings looked custom built and strong enough to take heavy abuse yet were freshly contemporary in style. There wasn’t anything of note on the walls except one small clock above a home theatre setup. The floors were bare hardwood and showed scratches and markings that indicated hard use. Here and there, despite the modern atmosphere of the house, were deep fist-sized holes knocked in the walls.

“Interesting,” Michael said as he walked around a bit. “Breaking and entering? Is this a habit of yours Asmodeus?”

Beyond the living room they could hear someone talking on the phone. The voice was male, British accented and very elegant. It was also very familiar but Daniel couldn’t place it. The conversation seemed to be centered on some sort of movie project and whoever was speaking was heavily involved in some way. He heard something about contracts, scheduling, costuming, production crews, other actors and lastly something mysteriously called The Rose Diary.” The conversation lasted a full ten minutes before the speaker finally hung up. “Asmodeus!” He heard that elegant voice call out. “Have you brought our plebes? Are they ready?”

The man who was speaking came walking in from another room. He was about thirty years old, very tall and muscular, with thick dark locks cascading over his shoulders and wearing only a billowing pair of what looked like white cotton pajama bottoms. His deep-set green eyes seemed to drill into them as he paused for a good long look. “I say! They look the part!” He exclaimed, smiling widely. “And frightened to death too. What have you been telling them?”

“Only the truth,” Asmodeus stated. “Boys, this is your teacher Derasthe. You may also recognize him from the movies, where he regularly makes an ass of himself on the silver screen in front of millions for millions.”

“Always the critic,” Derasthe smiled, his voice dripping in sarcasm. “My human name is Dresler Rader. Maybe you’ve heard of me?” Despite his friendly face, the actor’s ego was definitely there.

Daniel stifled a gasp as he recognized the name and the actor from several of his favorite science fiction and fantasy films. Although Dresler Rader wasn’t yet a household name, he was well known in science fiction fan circles as an actor who did his own stunts and wasn’t afraid to take big risks to get a shot. Now it was apparent that nothing could really hurt him—he was an angel.

As if in confirmation, Derasthe’s dark brown wings unfolded from his back and he seemed to grow in stature, changing from a handsome Hollywood screen star to a giant scarred warrior angel with thick dark waves spilling nearly to his waist, still impressive, handsome and friendly, just deadlier looking. “Shall we start?” He asked, his voice still inflecting his English upbringing. “I imagine you must have tons of questions. Please, make yourselves comfortable. We’ll be working all night.”

“Yeah,” Daniel finally spoke. “What’s The Rose Diary?”

Derasthe laughed. “Hopefully it’s my latest film. It’s also my first time as a producer and I think it may be my last. I am getting very tempted to murder a few people so it’s best for all concerned, I think. Is that all you wanted to know?”

Daniel shook his head. “I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting to be anyplace like this tonight. I was just going to do my homework and maybe go play some basketball.”

“I have a question,” Michael spoke up. “Were you always an angel?”

“Ah, very good,” Derasthe nodded. “The answer is that I came to my wings very much the way you did, a complete surprise at age nineteen. Only I didn’t have the advantage of having parents who knew and supported the changes I was going through. My natural father was an angel who spent one hell of an evening with my mother and left, taking along her memory of his visit. To this day, neither she nor the man who raised me, who I call father, know what their son has become. They only know that I am a successful actor living in the star studded world of Hollywood.”

“So who educated you about being an angel then?” Michael asked.

“I was found by Asmodeus, much as you were, and taken to a teacher I’ve come to love very much. Her name is Leila and she lives very close by. You’ll meet her soon.”

“Leila?” Daniel echoed. “She’s female?”

“Most certainly, and quite beautiful too,” Derasthe nodded. “She has an apartment on the top floor of one of the luxury hotels here.”

“I have another question,” Daniel said. “Both you and Asmodeus have hair just about down to your asses and when we’re in angel suits, Michael and I do too. What’s up with that? Doesn’t it get in your way? I’d like to chop mine off!”

“Ah, the hair question!” Derasthe said approvingly. “I’ve been asking that one myself but I never get a satisfactory answer. Asmodeus?”

Asmodeus just shrugged. “It’s just the way we are. If you chop it off, it will grow back in a matter of hours. But you can keep it under control in other ways if it bothers you. On the flip side, your beard won’t be such a problem, as it will grow pretty slowly. You might have to shave once or twice a year.”

“Once or twice a YEAR?” Daniel repeated in disbelief. “We don’t have beards at all?”

“Of course you do when you are in human form but as angels you just don’t. As you can see, beard growth has not much to do with virility where we are concerned. Maybe when Metatron is grown up, he can explain it to you better.” He glanced back at Derasthe as he continued. “Perhaps we had better start our Angelship 101 session for this evening? I would be happy to answer any other questions as we go along or really any time. I am available to you 24/7 for any concerns you may have or if you are in need of help.”

’I have one more question,” Daniel said as the group rose to its feet.

“Certainly,” Derasthe answered and stood waiting for what he knew was coming.

“Why do we need all this training? Who is going to try to kill us?”

The two older angels glanced at each other and Asmodeus nodded at Derasthe. “Might as well tell him.”

Derasthe took a deep breath, and then smiled as brightly as he could. “As the guardians of Metatron, you may run into some opposition to his re-emergence.”

“What kind of opposition?” Daniel asked suspiciously.

“There is a faction a very small group really…of angels whom Metatron has made enemies of. This group is called the Fallen, but they aren’t technically fallen angels. There aren’t any fallen angels, no one has lost their wings nor have they been cast out of heaven, or whatever else that place is called here on this world. They simply have been…difficult to deal with.”

“Why? What did Metatron do to them?” Daniel wanted to know if he was getting into a battle that he wanted no part of.

“Mostly the objection was over the creation of sentient beings that were not angels. In this world, that is human beings, and some animals of course.” Derasthe related this in such a tone as to make Daniel think he equated the objections with leaving a flaming bag of dog poop on someone’s doorstep, a minor if disgusting inconvenience and nothing more.

“And they want to destroy Metatron over this because…?” Daniel waited for the answer to the question.

“Because…” Derasthe glanced at Asmodeus, and then went on. “If Metatron should somehow be killed, everything he created would die with him…including this planet, the solar system, the galaxy, the universe and many other universes besides. All that would be left is angels. Then a true war in heaven, or actually in our traditional home which we simply call Void, would start and perhaps destroy us too.”

Daniel, always the fervent believer in his Catholic faith, could stand no more. His eyes narrowed and he stepped back away from the group. “That’s enough. I’ve heard enough. Are you saying there is no God? There is no Jesus Christ? No Heaven? That everything I believe in is a load of horseshit?”

“There is also no Purgatory, and Hell is just next door to Heaven if you want to call it that,” Asmodeus answered, oblivious to Daniel’s shaken faith. “But look at it this way. Most of the major and minor religions on this planet have always supported the existence of angels or ‘eternals’, but as far as the Creator is concerned, they vary widely. Christians and Jews believe in God, Muslims in Allah, Hindus in Krishna and Shiva, native Americans in Manitou or the Great Spirit…but it all comes down to who created it all and that being is Metatron, who is in spite of all he has done, is still an angel. He is the chief commander of all the angels, the creator of everything you see and don’t see and an all-round swell guy you can watch football and drink beer with.”

Derasthe paused to take a breath then continued. “If you want to stay in your faith, that won’t bother us. You can look at Metatron as just another angel if you want but time will prove that what I am saying is true. Go to Mass, say your prayers, do your community service—it’s all just great as far as we’re concerned.” Derasthe was finished with his speech, but then his voice lowered into a throaty growl. “But never ever take your eyes off this child until he is old enough to fend for himself.”

Michael suddenly spoke for the first time in awhile. He had been taking this all in, curious about Daniel’s response to the idea that his Catholic faith was just a waste of time. “So, what do we learn tonight?”

“We are starting with basic angelic history, culture, group structure, command levels and where you both fit into this,” Derasthe answered. “And Daniel, believe me I know how you feel. I was ready to join our local Church as a lay minister when I got my wings. But in the years since then, I have learned that my religious beliefs really weren’t so different than reality. It’s just a matter of interpretation. It will become clearer, I promise.”

“Don’t expect miracles,” Daniel responded grimly. “How long will this take?”

“About four seconds,” Derasthe answered as what seemed to be a bolt of energy left the center of his forehead, split into two separate beams and struck the two young angels squarely between the eyes, sending them back down onto the heavy furniture as their knees collapsed from under them.

Three seconds later, they both seemed to be recovering, their brains overflowing with their new knowledge. Daniel felt his alter ego angel growing much closer and tried to push him back, but was unsuccessful. With a final push, Daniel came to the forefront and despite a shout of objection, became one with the teenager. In Michael’s case, the jolt filled in the holes dotting his memory and the angel Michael was complete.

Derasthe knelt down before them to examine his handiwork. “Ah, you’re right Asmodeus. That seems to have done the trick. I sense only two beings in front of me now, not four. They have begun integration. Daniel? Michael?”

“Daniel,” came the correction from the slowly recovering young angel. “We have compromised and are now sharing this body ” Daniel looked up at Derasthe to reveal an intensity that had not been there before and it was clear that there was no longer a fear of heights or flying. “Thank you,” he continued. “At least the confusion is gone.” He glanced over at Michael. “And the urge to kill you is also gone. Maybe we are brothers after all.”

“Or maybe joining with Daniel has made you realize how much love I have for you.” Michael was still absorbing what had just happened, but he was smiling. “Incredible. I feel like a new angel!”

“Well it so happens that you aren’t a new angel,” Derasthe smiled at him. “But it does feel that way, doesn’t it? When Leila did it to me, it felt as if all the world’s worries were lifted from my shoulders. But then, I got a new set of worries! “ He laughed as he rose to his feet again. “Come on angels, let’s go have some fun!”

“But I have so many more questions,” Daniel said, coming to the forefront as they got to their feet again. “How will I ever have time to ask them?”

“Just shoot them at me telepathically as we go! I can answer questions until you scream for me to stop!” Derasthe said cheerfully as they headed for the French doors again.

His fear of the sky gone forever, Daniel followed his brother, Asmodeus and Derasthe out into the night air to take off into the clearing air over the San Fernando Valley. Together, they formed into a lopsided ‘V’ and headed toward the snow-covered peaks of the San Bernardino Mountains, where they spent the rest of the night testing and experimenting with their new abilities. When all was done, two complete angels returned to Wisconsin that night with a new sense of direction and a goal to accomplish.