The Chronicle of Belthaeous

by John W. Steele

Chapter 56: The Clear White Light

A clear white light flooded the assembly hall with intensity brighter than the solar rays that scorch the retinas of the eyes. Yet the Light was soothing like an ocean of living energy, its radiance the essence of beauty and wonder, and impossible to describe with words.

The Enukai began to howl. I watched them smolder and burn in the glowing field of spiritual radiance. Blisters formed on their skin and flaming craters charred their flesh.

The demons howled in great anguish and fell thrashing to the floor. Many of them shrouded themselves in a pewter-colored mist and then vanished from the hall.

Croitus glared at me and made the sign of the fist. His face looked like a mask of wax that had been cauterized by a blowtorch, and one glaring red eye hung from its socket.

He uttered something in Enukai and started to tremble. A cloud the color of pitch fell over him, and like a shadow he scrambled towards a smoky portal that had formed overhead.

The aliens fought and clawed at each other to gain access to the tunnel of darkness. The weaker ones were trampled in a stampede to escape the Light. They lay twisted and broken, their bodies contorted into grotesque, unrecognizable forms. The demons groaned in a great lamentation, and their flesh melted away like ice in boiling water.

“Quickly, enter the veil, we’re trapped in the Third,” Raom cried. The Council merged into a single entity and flowed into a sapphire cloud. The vapor grew more viscous until it solidified into a geometric dome with a graphite-colored shell.

Tartarus lay moaning on the floor. His massive chest heaved like a race horse that had just completed a steeplechase. A gaping wound had opened in his back, exposing charred, broken vertebrae. A fluid like crude oil leaked from the base of his spine. He cursed the Light and an unearthly growl rumbled in his throat. The Titan struggled to stand but fell back to the floor.

A myriad of forms filled the ocean of radiance, as if an entire cosmos existed in the sea of pure crystalline energy. One of the figures emerged and I recognized the entity immediately. Ursula strode forth and stood before me, her presence more vibrant and ravishing than I had ever seen her.

A torrent of golden light surrounded her, and she beamed with shafts of rainbow energy. “You have done well, Rodney Neumann. You guarded the Eye with your life, and you faced death like a warrior. You will transcend the matrix. A day will come when you will be emancipated from the wheel of birth and death. Do you now understand?”

I nodded. “Yes, I am no longer hypnotized by the magic of this virtual reality. I can never return to what I was. Heaven leads to rebirth, but gnosis leads to eternal liberation from the counterfeit creation.”

The goddess smiled softly. “I died a thousand times before I escaped the penal colony of the material realm. But when I did, all that I had suffered and endured was like a particle of dust floating in the vastness of space. Only the Light remains.”

“I know why you’re here, Ursula. I’ve been fascinated by this magic of Maya for ages but I see the truth now.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Rodney, not even the greatest Avatars enter this Hell fully awakened. Many of them suffer endless torment before gnosis arouses them from the ocean of ignorance.

“If they are of the Light, Mammon will persecute them from the moment they’re born until the day they die. But if one uses this torment to fathom the design of Samsara and awakens to what it is, they can never be forced to return to a world such as this.

“Like many a divine spark that is trapped here, you have chosen to serve the Light as a warrior. You are incarnate in this evil creation for reasons you do not understand. But your efforts have made a difference in the war of essences. The battles you have fought weakened the walls of the matrix, and the knowledge you gained is priceless.

“It has been an honor to assist you. We are the same and will meet again one day. I have learned much from you. Always remember: to suffer and endure is the road to awakening. Gnosis is terrible; it doesn’t descend from the sky like a snow-white dove; it crashes down like an avalanche and destroys everything in its path. The burden rests on your shoulders, Dr. Neumann; as it is, and as it shall forever be, it is always just you.”

“I’ve made my decision,” I said.

A fire door at the rear of the stage hissed open, and Mindy emerged. She was wearing an ivory gown that appeared to be made of silk. She looked absolutely enchanting. Mindy walked towards us and faced the goddess.

“It is time,” Ursula said. She turned and looked at me. The Light in her eyes reflected in my heart and my mind resounded with astonishing clarity. There were no more questions and nowhere left to hide. The decision in whom I would place my trust would forever determine the course of my destiny. I understood that no one escapes this conclusion, and it is the most important challenge all beings incarnate in the physical dimension must face. I unbuttoned my collar and removed the Eye of Mammon from around my neck.

I fell to one knee and said, “I give you this power according the knowledge and understanding that has awakened within me through the grace of conscious awareness. May my mind merge with the Divine mind and my heart forever abide in the infinite wonder of the True Light.” I bowed my head and held the treasure before me.

Ursula removed the icon from my hand and a feeling of grateful benevolence warmed my heart.

“In time, you will return forever to your Overself, Rodney Neumann. Your service to the Light has made you a treasure far beyond the worth of this entire evil and hateful creation.”

The goddess turned and walked to Belthaeous. Ursula raised her hand and placed the Eye in the Aeon’s brow. Belthaeous shuddered and his body filled with supernal radiance.

Gone were the traces robotic intelligence and technological magic. The great Aeon beamed like the Avatar he was, and his light shone the brightest of all. Like a living spirit he rose from the altar and stood. His physical shell remained on the pyre like an effigy made of wax.

Ursula unsheathed her saber and bowed her head. Belthaeous did not bend the knee but lowered his head and stood like one who had no equal.

In a firm and passionate voice Ursula proclaimed, “Mighty Belthaeous, the Light has returned your will to you. Your valor and sacrifice shall be proclaimed in the Pleroma, and you have risen to the rank of Aeon, a supreme commander of the galactic consciousness beyond this flawed creation. I proclaim you warrior king, Belthaeous, the entity who tread asunder the hypostasis of the Archons.”

The angel raised her sword and rested the side of the blade on the Aeon’s left shoulder, then lifted it over his head and repeated the gesture on the right.

From a satchel at her side Ursula retrieved a jeweled crown and placed it firmly on the Aeon’s head. She bowed and stepped away.

Mindy came forth and stood before the King. They shared a long sustained look. Belthaeous pulled her to him and kissed her tenderly.

The great Aeon removed his crown and held it respectfully in his hands. His voice saturated the silence and resonated inside the hall. “To serve the True Light Creator is my glory. The Light has claimed me and there can be no greater destiny. To rule in Hell is the curse of the counterfeit creation. I am of the Light and forever shall I serve the Light.”

Tartarus began to stir. He roared like thunder then struggled to his feet, his eyes glazed, and his body weaving. Like a drunken titan he gazed at the couple standing at the altar. “Oh, isn’t that sweet, the Light monkeys have united in matrimonial misery.” The demon tried to laugh but all he could muster was a broken chortle.

“Silence, Mammon,” Belthaeous boomed. “You stacked all the odds in your favor and, in the end, I defeated you. You are more than contemptible; you are an incompetent demigod who sits on a fated throne. You and your legion of robots and demons will be separated from the Light. A time will come when you will experience the suffering you have imposed on Light beings and will admit that you are unworthy to carry on.

"Darkness and oblivion are your reward, Tartarus. I am now free to leave this Hell with my queen. But we shall not desert you, Tartarus, and we will continue to dismantle your creation in the higher dimensions. Your theocratic empire will be brought low and your parasitic gods shall be forced to face judgment before the True Light Creator.”

Tartarus groaned and snapped his jaws. His eyes had lost their scarlet hue and a pool of oily blood formed at his feet. He shook his head and limped slowly on the tiles.

“But that time has not arrived yet, noble one,” Tartarus hissed. “I still rule on this planet. Not even the Vulpeculans could withstand the intensity of the Light, but I have emerged nearly unscathed.

“The Council of Five are spineless prima donnas who think they are indispensible because they control the flatulent gas realms, but here on Earth is where the real crap lands. I’ve grown weary of their insolence. I may just do away with these mid-level bureaucrats and start again.”

“I would not be so quick to boast of your immortality, demon. Belthaeous said. “You were spared because you hold the theomorphs’ ransom. The Father energy will conquer and annihilate you as soon as the rescue mission is completed, and all the Light beings are released from the curse of your bondage.”

Tartarus held his arms before him and mimed as if he were playing a violin.“You know the name of that tune, Quasar? It’s called ‘That ain’t happening soon.’ They’re all standing in line for that rapture in the sky just like their great, great, great, granddaddies did. In the end, I get them all.” The demon cradled his ribs and laughed like a lunatic.

From beneath a bench in the assembly hall, Xenotula emerged. Open sores covered his body and his eyes bulged from their sockets. He staggered forth and fell to his knees before Tartarus. “Oh mighty king, allow me to serve as your liege. I know a great deal about the Vulpeculan elite and can assist you in their destruction. Raom is an anal-retentive, calculating bitch, who claims that if she had stones she could replace you as the apple of Mammon’s eye.

“She came here to retrieve the Eye. She told me the Council had been made aware of the Eye by the Karmapa. They learned of its power through the demon called Jigme and it was he who revealed its location. Had they beaten you to it, they would have used its power to destroy you.”

The Baron crawled across the floor and kissed the devil’s feet. “Oh, if you knew the things Raom and her band of sanctimonious apostates had planned for you, Tartarus, you would draw and quarter them immediately. In fact, it would give me great pleasure to assist you in an endeavor of that nature.”

Tartarus stared at the slug kneeling before him. “Is it suffering you crave, Xenotula? Then I shall grant your wish.”

The Baron’s face ignited with a malevolent grin and he rose from the floor to his knees.

Tartarus eyed the Aeon. “You have won the battle, but you cannot win the war, my brother. My essence permeates the material realm, and you know it can never be any different.”

“That’s why this sector of the universe shall be destroyed,” Ursula said. “A new heaven and a new earth that can never be defiled by darkness await those who can endure until the end. Beware, o mighty demon; your time is short.”

Mindy turned and our eyes met. Her gaze sent thrills of energy through me. “I’ll always love you, Rodney Neumann,” she whispered.

I wanted to ask her if we’d meet again, but I restrained myself... I didn’t want to know. “Goodbye, Mindy. It’s been real.”

She winked, and looked away.

“We cannot tarry here,” Ursula said. “The frequency of this vibration is noxious to us, and I cannot hold the Vulpeculans at bay much longer.”

Ursula approached the Aeon and stood before him. She held Mindy gently in her arms and Belthaeous did the same. Their arms locked around her, protecting the bride in their embrace. An orb of golden radiance shone like a tiny star around them. Particles of light rained inside the sphere like a shower of glimmering rose petals, a flash of radiance flooded the hall and they were gone.

To be continued...