Apollyon's Saint The Collection: Books One through Ten Read online

  Chapter Six

  Gabriel wadded out of clear creek once again confused and unsure of what he had to do. The events seemed so surreal though the white light and candle were strong reminders that it did take place. He had been baptized by none other than Satan himself in waters that seen bloodshed since the native Americans.

  This brought whole new meaning to the saying baptized by fire. Gabriel sat on the shore and watched the white water rush around the rocks. He laid back and looked up at the clouds in the sky to the sound of rushing water. Everything was so peaceful out there on the bank of clear creek. For the first time in years Gabriel felt some peace in the madness of his life.

  What should he do, he could go right now and shoot a man and watch the world he never wanted to be a part of light up in a glorious inferno. Then all of nature would be gone, and then what heaven. Or would he be damned to deal with Apollyon's confusing riddles. But then again if he simply lived whatever life he had and allowed Apollyon to build his legion, then he would still be stuck with him.

  There was no alternative that appealed to Gabriel. Now he would give anything to go back a few months ago when he was a distraught, depressed, suicidal redneck who did not hold the fate of the world in his hands. For now Gabriel did not want to make any choices, just gaze at the sky. Gabriel thought that there was only one way to decide his and the worlds fate. That was over a bottle of whiskey at Marlov's. He left his creek side paradise and headed to his old drinking hole.

  He walked into Marlov's and headed to an empty stool. It was about mid day and many of the old bar flies had already had a few drinks. Ashley was there like always but oddly enough she took one glance at Gabriel and ignored him for as long as she could. “What do you want to drink?” Ashley said cleaning out a shot glass.

  “The strongest whiskey you have, please” Gabriel said. Ashley stared at the rack of booze and searched. She grabbed a old bottle of Irish whiskey that had sat on the shelf at the same level of fluid for years. She poured some in the shot glass and put it in front of Gabriel and turned to walk away. “How you been Ashley?” Gabriel asked. “Fine, not like you care” Ashley said still walking away.

  Maybe now that he was a baptized man he no longer appealed to Ashley. But it was doubtful. The most likely reason why she was ignoring him was just another game women played. If Apollyon had been a woman he would have been a far greater trickster than he is now, that is for sure. Gabriel watched Ashley as she kept her back turned to him.

  He knew she was upset from their last encounter. But really what did she expect, Gabriel to just join her for a day of parades and flashbacks of rape and abuse? There was so much he wanted to say to her but how could he. He wanted to tell her he was sorry, for all the bad things that happened to her. But it would only scare her away. Then again maybe that was what he wanted, to keep her away from him.

  Something still made Gabriel drawn to her but he had to keep the walls up. If she needed him, he had to run. If she was in distress, he had to look away. He knew he might be Apollyon's saint but he was the worst thing for her. It could only lead to more unneeded pain and agony and she had seen enough of that for one lifetime.

  Next to Gabriel was an old man in a ragged army jacket drinking a beer and mumbling to himself. Gabriel looked down at the piss colored drink in front of him and new it was a sign from Ashley. If she could name the drink it would be eat shit asshole. Gabriel didn't care though after days without a shot he was ready.

  He put the glass to his lips and quickly slammed it down. Followed by something unusual for Gabriel. He started choking and coughing from the drink. Maybe it was just this drink he thought, but then again he was unable to eat anything so maybe the same thing applied for whiskey. The man next to him started laughing at Gabriel.

  “Bit off more than you can chew there aye boy!” the man said laughing. He reached up and patted Gabriel's back and Gabriel reach out to block the mans poor attempt at the Heimlich. Gabriel caught the mans arm and just as quick was jolted into the mans past.

  Gabriel was now in a rice field laying in a ditch. Next to him where 8 soldiers under heavy fire in a torrential rain storm. Gabriel knew he was now in Vietnam and maybe now all the old timers war stories would make sense. “Where the fuck are they shooting from!” one of the soldiers yelled. “Keep your head down!” another soldier yelled. Crackling and buzzing sounds were all around Gabriel.

  Instead of a firefight it seemed like he pissed off some bee's in a rain storm. Bullets splatted into the mud of the bank above him. Then suddenly it was over. “Fuck you!” one of the soldiers yelled. “Stay down and shut up, we will hold here until the night” The man next to Gabriel said, who resembled the man in the bar.

  “Mitch they will be back and shred us a knew one if we stay here!” Another soldier yelled. “We don't have a choice, they got us out in the open. If we fall back we will get gunned down. Lets wait for the cover of night.” Mitch said. The men laid in the muddy ditch as the rain continued to barrage down on them.

  Gabriel never imagined a war to look like this, they were fighting the elements and politics from a muddy ditch rather than the enemy. The men laid quite, throughout the day there were small bursts of AK47 fire then nothing again. But the rain never let up, how could men fight a war in such a downpour.

  Every time the crackling of guns sounded around them one of the men would tremble. The smell of piss, shit, and death was potent. Mitch army crawled up the bank and looked out into the tree's. Gabriel just stood up since he knew he would not be seen by anyone. Gabriel could see Vietcong all around the men hiding in the tree's. They were completely surrounded, in the field were dead US soldiers who were caught in the ambush and tried to find cover.

  One mans intestines were spewed out from his midsection soaking in the muddy waters. How do men survive and live after such a waist of young lives. It didn't matter how skilled of a soldier you were, if you took one wrong step or were in the right place at the wrong time, you were dead.

  Mitch tried to get a look to see if the coast was clear and the forest came to life with fire. Mitch rolled back down to where he was. The men just laid there waiting for hours. No words, or plans on how to survive, just patient frustration. Gabriel could see some of the Vietcong retreated off into the forest. Most likely going back to their homes in the confines of a US military base so they could make money off the soldiers they would kill in the forest.

  “Fuck this I am going to make a break for it” One of the men whispered. “Its not safe yet just wait maybe they will think we have backup on the way and retreat” Mitch said. The man did not listen he darted out of the ditch. When he reached the top of the bank he slipped in the mud then the forest once again came to life with AK47 fire but less than before.

  Gabriel could see shots coming from places where he did not even see the enemy at. The mans flesh tore open as multiple bullets ripped into him. “NOO!” Mitch yelled as he got up from the ditch and went to grab the man. The rest of soldiers got up and gave covering fire. They did not know where to shoot but they laid into the forest around them with a barrage of M16 fire.

  Mitch pulled the man back down into the ditch. He was choking on his blood and wheezing. “Its gonna be okay Andy we will get you out of this!” Mitch shouted. Andy took one last breath and his body went limp and he was gone from the wet misery. Another man who was providing covering fire took a bullet right to the face and was instantly killed. “Get back down!” Mitch yelled at his men.

  They all rolled back down into the now bloody pond that had filled the ditch. The men were scared, they all had to accept that they were about to die there with their two comrades. “I don't want to die here!” One of the men said in panic. “If you don't want to die here then man the fuck up soldier and hold. I will get us out of this shit hole and back to the states but you have to do exactly as I say!” Mitch shouted.

  Nightfall fell over the men and though Gabriel could stand he could see nothing but darkness all around t
hem. Mitch headed back up to the place where he scouted before. He crawled out of the ditch and got a good look of what was around him. He paused for a moment then went back down to his men.

  “All right it's clear” Mitch said in a voice sure of himself. How could he really know, Gabriel could not see beyond the field let alone where the enemy were during the day. But if Mitch appeared sure to his men, maybe they would follow their leader out into the night. “Now one at a time we are going to head out to the tree's. Just to the left of that point is a tree that is down. Once you get there provide covering fire for the men coming across. I will head out last, John you first.” Mitch said.

  The men asked no questions and one by one the men headed to the fallen tree. Mitch took one last look at his fallen men in the ditch and tried his best to suck in his emotions and head to the rest of his men. No emotion would help him or his men right now, all he could do is show courage to get them out alive.

  Once Mitch was reunited with his men they went in single file with Mitch in the lead walking through the thick forest. The men moved almost silently but Gabriel stumble and struggled to keep up in the mud. The way they followed Mitch was like ancient samurai warriors using stealth and knowledge of their surroundings to sneak past their enemy.

  All of the men were younger than Gabriel, he could not fathom what they had to go through. Not even his run in with the devil or trials in life compared to this. There could be no hell worse than this for a young man, not only that but we all know the outcome of the war. They gave their lives for nothing as Mitch fought just to keep his men alive.

  They were not there to rid the world of communism, or defeat those who threaten America's freedom. They were there to protect the man next to them and there could be no greater bond between man. They just wanted to survive and keep their brothers in arms alive to return to a rioting nation who would outcast them.

  Gabriel Could not tell where they were going, he could be back in that mineshaft in pure darkness and have just as much bearing of his surroundings. But Mitch lead the way with faith in his men, and self. He never stopped and looked around or pondered if they were lost. To him it didn't matter if they were back on base or deep in enemy territory, he had a mission. To return his men to their loved ones sleeping safely in their beds thousands of miles away.

  The sun was barely coming up when they arrived to a village of small huts. Mitch held a fist up in the air motioning his men to come to a halt. It was still hard to see into the village but Mitch moved his hand in a swooping pattern signaling his men to go around. Just as he motioned the orders small arms fire erupted from the village.

  The men took cover and returned a impressive display of fire. Each time one of the men had to reload he shouted reloading! The way they fired and worked together was like a well oiled death machine. It was clear though they were not of legal age to drink, they were combat hardened vets. They continued to fire at any shadow or sound that came from the village until the sun came up over the dense forest.

  The smoke had cleared and the men cautiously headed into the village. Before them laid countless dead, but only one enemy wielding a Smith and Wesson Model 12 pistol most likely removed from the corpse of a chopper pilot. Before them were dead women and children and one coward who put the innocent lives of the villagers at stake so he could fire a few shots at the men.

  Mitch knelt down and dropped his head into his hands. He could no longer show the strength from the night before as he broke down into tears and sobbing. “Mitch, it's okay we didn't know” one of his men said in a calm tone. A few feet from them was a child struggling to move in the dirt. One of the soldiers ran over to comfort the young boy.

  He had multiple gunshots to his back and it was amazing that he was still alive. The man held the boy in his arms as tears fell from his eyes. Just two innocent boys worlds apart watching each other die in their own way. One would be free of the cruelty of this world while the other would be haunted by the images of the other for the rest of his life.

  The boy died in the soldiers arms and Gabriel busted into tears. This wasn't Mitch’s sin's, or any of the soldiers. But the sins of politicians back home making these young men suffer the ultimate sacrifice. Life with the haunting memories of war.

  With the shock of electricity Gabriel was tossed from that village and now riding in a Huey through a valley with mountains on both sides. Mitch was sitting with 7 other soldiers all with blank expressions. Gabriel looked out from the Huey and could see 6 other Huey’s spread out around them as he continued to cry from what took place in the village. “We are coming in hot!” The pilot yelled out to the soldiers as he descended into the valley.

  Once the Huey touched down the men quickly and methodically jumped from the chopper into a field with high grass. Once out of the Huey it ascended back into the sky with the others. The soldiers on the ground made a dash for the tree's. There seemed to be some confusion on which end of the field they were going to but they just wanted out of the drop zone.

  Once behind cover they watched as they Huey's disappeared over the ridge. The rumbling sound they made through the valley had to alert the Vietcong of there presence in the valley. The men looked more organized in the tree's, a few units lined up to head out and the other soldiers followed suit.

  They looked well prepaired for whatever was waiting for them up the valley. Armed with M60 machine guns, M16's, Grenade launchers, Stevens pump action shotguns and a couple of flame throwers. They had medics, men with radios, and some men who still looked to green to have seen any combat yet.

  They walked through the endless valley for miles, these were the times the war had to be frustrating Knowing hell would come, it was just a matter of time. But that day hell never opened it's gates in the forest. Nightfall came and the men dug in for the night. They set up make shift machine gun nests with M60's around the camp. A few men set up claymores around their perimeter and then returned to the camp. They designated who would be first on night watch and the rest of the men struggled to rest until they were on watch.

  Gabriel walked around the camp, the men on watch looked exhausted and uneasy. While the men resting tossed and turned, few of them were sleeping. One of the men got up, he abandoned his helmet, pack and gun and headed out of the camp in a rush. Gabriel was unsure what the man was doing so he followed him into the tree's around the camp.

  The man was in a rush, then it was clear to Gabriel that whatever the man last ate on base had caught up with him. But Gabriel was shocked the man abandoned his gun, and never took the time to alert the watch of what he was doing. Gabriel could see the man maybe 20 yards away facing Gabriel and doing his deed.

  Then almost on que, one of the claymores in the forest 30 yards behind the man exploded. Gabriel could see a patrol of Vietcong dashing through the tree's. The soldier taking a shit hit the ground and with pants down was now laying defenseless in his own shit. The Vietcong patrol was now just feet away from him when they opened up on the camp with AK47's, RPK's, and a assortment bolt action rifles.

  The machine gun nest's erupted ripping apart tree's and any Vietcong in their path. The men in camp scrambled to find cover and return fire. Gabriel and the soldier taking a shit were now right in the middle of the battle. Another claymore went off as Gabriel watched 30 or more Vietcong come charging through the forest.

  Gabriel could see Mitch and another man on the radio calling in an air strike. Now the Vietcong were almost at a full Japaneses banzai charge towards the camp. They were pouring from the tree's firing and running at the camp. The soldier taking a crap was curled up in a ball as enemy men ran right past him. “Thump” Thump” Gabriel heard from the camp as grenades exploded around him.

  Even Gabriel took cover next to a tree and could feel the shell shock of war. Debris and dead Vietcong were all around him. Gabriel looked down at one Vietcong soldier, just a boy maybe 14 years old. He was groaning and crawling away from the battle. He stopped and rolled over on his back just p
ast Gabriel.

  The boy was gut shot and was using his hand to keep his insides from coming out. He looked up at the night sky for a few moments and then died . Instead of playing with his friends in some village as boys do, or getting that first kiss from a girl, he would die and join the ranks as another wasted youth in Vietnam.

  Gabriel watched as the last of the Vietcong laid dead or dying. The once dense forest had been shredded and bullets and craters scarred everything around him. He glanced back at the soldier who stepped out at the worst time to take a shit. He to laid dead, riddled with holes from the M60 that one of his comrades was using to defeat the charging Vietcong.

  Gabriel could only ponder if the soldiers family would get the true story behind his death. Then again the truth no matter what was a wasted life. Hopefully they would tell his family only that he was a hero of war, who died protecting our freedom, and the lives of his fellow soldiers.

  The barrage of gun fire came to a halt and Gabriel could hear the bloody cries of war. One of the Vietcong was missing both of his legs and screaming something in his native language into the night. Some Vietcong groaned and moaned on the forest floor, while others laid silently dead. The men at the camp all just stayed alert full of adrenaline from the firefight.

  Gabriel headed back down to the camp to escape the dead and dying in the forest. Once back at camp he watched the soldiers listening to the cries of their defeated enemy. But they too had suffered some casualty at the camp as the medics steadily attempted to save the lives of their friends. All the other soldiers in camp were shaken and experiencing the most extreme high they would ever feel. The medics kept completely calm though and with steady hands tended to the injured men.

  Mitch was back on the radio calling off the air strike and trying to get the wounded evacuated. But it was too late, the glorious sound of hell fire was coming through the air. Mitch was off in the distance with some of his men while Gabriel was standing amongst the medics and injured. Then a bright inferno rapidly spread right before him.

  Gabriel was now standing right in the middle of the napalm strike as he watched the medics and wounded turn into charcoal flesh in an instant. The flames surrounded him and the horrific site of napalm burning young men was right before him. Gabriel could faintly hear the screams of Mitch and the rest of the men from outside the inferno.

  One man on the edge of the blaze ran out into the forest on fire. After only a few yards he dropped motionless and continued to burn. The men inside the napalm strike were now nothing more than tender, their flesh melted with their gear as they laid motionless

  Gabriel walked through the flames and could see the horror on the faces of the soldiers in the camp. They were filled with rage and hate that they would carry with them through their whole lives. Their friends, comrades, and brothers were being ripped from the world in the most violent and meaningless fashion known to mankind, just a casualty of war.

  Gabriel made it to the edge of the blaze and just as he did he felt the shock and was now in another moment from Mitch's horrifying past. They were landing at an airport back in the states. From outside the window Gabriel could see a large crowd waiting to welcome the war hero's home. The men grabbed their packs and lined up to exit the plane. Gabriel walked right behind Mitch as he stepped on American soil for the first time in far to long.

  His mission was complete, most people would say failed. Many of his men were sent home in closed caskets. But Gabriel knew that there was no man who could have done a better job with the impossible task Mitch was forced to face. No medal's or congratulations were waiting from him, just the nightmares, and the thought that some of his men were returning home as he was to start their lives once again.

  Standing behind Mitch, Gabriel felt so unworthy of the life he was given. Before he grabbed Mitch's arm he was still a self-centered child who could not face adversity in life. Instead he always looked for a way to avoid his problems. But the man in front of him walked with that same sureness and courage that he did throughout the war.

  Before Mitch was a bright new world and as he stepped off the plane he finally had a chance to see it. As they walked down the steps and onto the airfield many of the soldiers family ran to them and embraced them. But Mitch just smiled and walked through the crowd and into the airport.

  Once inside Gabriel could see armed guards holding back a crowd of people from getting inside. Mitch went over to a pay phone and called for a cab. Once he was done he hung up the phone and walked out the doors to where the guards were keeping the world out.

  “FUCK YOU BABY KILLER!” a man shouted from the crowd. Mitch now dropped his head down and tried to walk past one of the guards. “Wait, sir you might want to wait inside” One of the guards told Mitch. “I was just going to wait for my cab” Mitch told the guard.

  “We will direct him around back, just wait inside please” The guard said. Mitch turned around to go back inside. One of the men in the crowd threw a bottle that flew right past his head and smashed into the door. “Take that you pig!” the man shouted. The mob now pushed forward and the guards were struggling to hold them back.

  Mitch went back inside the airport. The confident stride was now gone, something Gabriel never even seen in Mitch during combat. He held his head low to the floor and took a seat on the floor in the airport. Mitch sighed and struggled to fight back his anger. He had hoped once back home the war would be over. But it was clear that he had many more battles yet to face.

  Gabriel sat down next to Mitch and just as he did he was tossed back into present time and in his hand was on the arm of the old war hero. Gabriel let go of his arm “I..I'm sorry Mitch” Gabriel said as he ran for the bathroom. Once inside one of the stalls Gabriel threw up his whiskey. He was crying to the toilet and it was not because he was drunk, but because such a glorious leader of men had to live with those horrors.

  Mitch should be given the highest honor's in our nation but instead people just viewed him as one of Marlov's delusional old drunks. No one in society could even handle the nightmares of war let alone seeing it in first person. Gabriel finished throwing up and wiped the tears from his face. He headed back out to the bar and sat down next to the man.

  Ashley pretended she did not even notice that he was gone but Gabriel knew better. “Its been, well a very long time since someone called me Mitch, do I know you son?” Mitch asked. “Um no sir, I just heard someone call you that in passing once” Gabriel said. “Can't be, everyone in Axal knows me as Michael, Mitch was a nickname given to me back in the war” Mitch said.

  “Oh well maybe I was mistaken and it was just a coincidence, I'm sorry Michael” Gabriel said trying not to seem out of the ordinary. “No, it's okay just been many years since I heard that. I actually miss the name now but tried to forget it” Mitch said. “Hey can I buy you a drink?” Gabriel asked. “I must refuse, the miss is at home and well I’m already going to be in trouble!” Mitch said as he got up from his chair.

  “Well you have a good night, sir” Gabriel said fighting back tears. “And to you as well” Mitch replied as he walked off with a limp. Gabriel had met few good men amongst Axal let alone a leader of good men. Now more than ever he wished that whiskey would have stayed in him long enough to get a buzz going.

  Wishing he could drowned the images in his head from Vietnam, Gabriel could only sit at the bar and stare into the souls of the drunks in Axal. The bar was filling up now with darkness falling over the little mountain town. Men tired from a hard days work looking to drink off the thoughts of their shitty boss and difficult lives.

  Thinking back to what Apollyon and David said, Gabriel now realized after seeing the earths darkest moments that all mankind deserved a chance at their trial of faith. No matter how corrupt, wicked, self-centered or destructive the world was, it deserved a chance. Gabriel knew that even though he held the fate of the world in his hand, so did every person on the planet.

  Would they choose to simply consume the earth's resources and rep
roduce more consumers like a vicious virus. Or would they end their ancestors line of sin and wickedness and find a way to save their planet. Some would simply be content with destruction and go on living life as mindless consumers. That is what Apollyon wanted for his legion, people too blind to care that just by living their normal life, they were destroying the hopes of others.

  With how rapidly mankind was reproducing the population in one hundred years would be more than 3 times the close to 7 billion it is. Gabriel only had to resist from sinning and the world would most likely meet its own doom in the coming centuries. Now he sat in the bar imagining how it would be. Another ruler born only from the depths of Apollyon's hell who would send off a nuclear apocalypse.

  Gabriel found it ironic that the very thing Apollyon wanted from the dawn of Adam, could be his undoing. With man gone his legion would fester in the depths of hell. No lives to torture or turn to ruin. No more beautiful chaos from men such as Daniel who Apollyon seemed so fond of. What would be left without man, just a heaven he was cast from. The hell he created that is made of sinners but deprives the man of free will to do so.

  What fun is there in the expected, Apollyon expected sin from those in hell, but those on earth were free to choose besides those who suffered the sin of their forefathers. Apollyon would almost cease to exist without the man he hated since their creation. He was winning his war with god. But even if he somehow proves god wrong it would be as if a suicidal proved he could take his life.

  So was Gabriel's purpose to turn from temptation so Apollyon could win, or so mankind could have a chance to change their impending doom. Gabriel knew what Apollyon wanted from him but what was it the god he did not know wanted. The only way Gabriel knew god existed was because Apollyon did. Why couldn’t god just show him the way.

  Everyday some man was reborn with the enlightenment of god and found new meaning in their life. Though according to Apollyon Gabriel was the last man on earth not destined for hell. So they all simply had blind faith that god was with them, while Apollyon led them to his hell. Gabriel's mind was running in circles, the same ones scholars in religion and atheism went over for centuries.

  Looking around the bar Gabriel saw the destroyer Apollyon in his fine clothes made for a king of suffering. He was sitting at a table and with him was a beautiful young woman. She was meatier than most women, built in closer resemblance to a man. She had on a dark linen robe and straight red hair. In front of her on a plate was an apple with a bite mark in it.

  Apollyon motioned for Gabriel to join them. Gabriel got up from his bar stool and walked over to the table. As he walked he looked around the room at the people in the bar. It was as though Apollyon and Gabriel no longer were within the realms of the living.

  Apollyon got up from his chair and pulled it out for Gabriel.“Sit Gabriel, I want you to meet someone” Apollyon said. Gabriel sat down in the chair and he locked eye's with the woman. Her eye's were almost enchanting and Gabriel could not look away. Gabriel was mesmerized by the woman, it was like everyone in the room just faded.

  “Gabriel, I want you to meet the mother of all living. Or so many call her, she was the very first that I breathed the choice of life with free will into. Her name is Eve, the original sinner. Without her the world would know nothing of pain, suffering, or me” Apollyon said.

  Gabriel could hear the words from Apollyon but he was still in the seductive grasp of the original sinner. “Hahaha, so weak your kind is to her ways Gabriel. Even you cannot break from the eye of temptation. You sit here amongst drunken demons seeking wisdom of god, so here it is. Take her hand and I will give you the wisdom man toils in church's of mine to find” Apollyon said.

  Eve's hand came out across the table and without looking away from her eye's Gabriel grasped her hand. Gabriel felt the lightning through his body sending him into the time of Eve. Gabriel was sitting on a log with Apollyon in a gorgeous forest. “Few men have set foot here Gabriel, though this is just you seeing the original sin. But before you is the garden of Eden and the birth of sin” Apollyon said.

  There was a tree like none on earth in front of them. The bark was more like a dark metal than wood. Engraved with fine lines winding up to the branches. Instead of the wind blowing the tree, this tree was blowing the wind and stood like a pillar of earth. The leaves had vibrate colors and none looked the same in color or form.

  Apples the size of melons hung from its branches and each apple had its own shade of green and red. At the roots of the tree was a large snake that almost blended in with the tree itself. The snake coiled along the root of the tree and its prescience tainted the glorious forest around it. The snakes tongue flickered in and out like a fisherman casting out his bait. “You are about to see my first and greatest trick of all time” Apollyon said as he laid his hand on Gabriel's shoulder.

  Just as Apollyon finished speaking Eve came walking through the forest. She was completely nude. Her body was nor fat or skinny, she was voluptuous and not groomed in any way. She looked more like a beast in the forest than the mother of mankind. The way she walked and looked around the forest with such wounder, like a deer or animal of prey. It was clear she was prey, the prey of the serpent waiting for her.

  “Did god really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” The snake said to Eve. “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but god did say, you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die” Eve said to the snake.

  The serpent coiled its way up the tree flickering its tongue out at Eve. “You will not surely die, for god knows when you eat of it your eyes shall be opened. You will be like god knowing good and evil” The serpent said.

  Eve looked up at the magnificent tree and stepped closer. The closer she got to the tree the more the snakes tongue flickered out of its mouth. “The first lust for temptation” Apollyon told Gabriel. “But why would god leave such power if he wanted man to never have it?” Gabriel asked. “He wanted to prove me wrong, that what he created in his image was good. He held more blind faith in you than you ever did in him.” Apollyon said.

  Eve slowly inched her hand out and touched the tree. Then she quickly retracted her hand and looked at it. She studied her hand for a moment and then grabbed hold of the tree with both hands and climbed up on to a branch. She reached out and plucked the darkest red apple on the tree. Eve placed the apple up to her nose and rubbed the apple in her hand.

  Then Eve smiled and looked up at the heavens and took a bite from the apple. After tasting wisdom Eve started pulling down as many apples from the tree as she could carry. “So man's lust for power begins!” Apollyon said. Eve walked off with her arms full of apples and then Gabriel was struck with electricity and back at the bar with Apollyon.

  “So did god give man free will or did you?” Gabriel asked Apollyon.”Your hunger for power gave you free will. God placed the tree in the garden, and I told you it was good. But only you could eat from it, and so many have” Apollyon said. “But you showed me the tree and told me not to eat so others can. so where does that leave me?” Gabriel said.

  “Ah, but your purpose here is the same as Eve's. She was the birth of sin, you are the keeper of it.” Apollyon said. “But the keeper of sin can also be the keeper of hope for mankind. Just like god placed the tree in the garden and let them choose, so can I” Gabriel said but Apollyon was gone.