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"We'll go, Lestat," he said again. I heard the wind rising. It wasthe whirlwind, and the walls had already flown backwards. I pressedmy hand against the veil. I heard his voice in my ear:
"Rest now."The souls whirled around us in the dimness. I felt my head againsthis shoulder, the wind ripping at my hair. I closed my eyes and I sawthe Son of God enter a great vast dark and gloomy place. The rays ofLight emanated from his small distinct figure in all directions,illuminating hundreds of struggling human forms, soul forms, ghostforms.
"Sheol," I struggled to say. But we were in the whirlwind, and thiswas an image against the blackness of my closed eyes only. Again theLight grew brighter, the rays merging in one great blaze as if I werein its very presence, and songs rose, louder and clearer, drowning outthe wailing souls around us, until the mingling of wail and songbecame the nature of the vision and the nature of the whirlwind. Andthey were one.
19I WAS lying still somewhere, in an open place, on the rockyground. I had the veil. I could feel the bulk of it, but I didn'tdare to reach inside and draw it out or examine it.
I saw Memnoch standing some distance away, in full glorifiedform, his wings high and stiffly drawn down behind him, and I sawGod Incarnate, risen, the wounds still red on His ankles and on Hiswrists, but He had been bathed and cleaned, and His body was on thesame scale as that of Memnoch, that is, greater than human. Hisrobes were white and fresh and His dark hair still richly colored withdried blood, but beautifully combed. It seemed more light seepedthrough the epidermal cells of His body than it had before Hiscrucifixion, and He gave off a powerful radiance, which rendered theradiance of Memnoch slightly dim by comparison. But the two did notfight each other, and were basically the same kind of light.
I lay there, looking up, and listening to them argue. And only outof the corner of my eye梑efore their voices became distinct to me?
did I see this was a battlefield littered with the dead. It wasn't thesame time as the Fourth Crusade. No one had to tell me. This was anearlier epic, and the bodies wore the armour and the clothes that Imight connect, if asked, to the third century perhaps, though I couldnot be certain. These were early, early times.
The dead stank. The air was filled with feasting insects, and evensome lowering, awkward vultures, which had come to tear at theswollen hideous flesh of the soldiers, and far off, I heard the nastyargument, in growls and barking梠f contending wolves.
"Yes, I see!" declared Memnoch angrily. He was speaking in atongue that wasn't English or French, but I understood himperfectly. "The gateway is open to Heaven for all those who die withUnderstanding and Acceptance of the Harmony of Creation and theGoodness of God! But what about the others! What about themillions of others!""And once again, I ask you," said the Son of God, "why I shouldcare about the others! Those who die without understanding andacceptance and knowledge of God. Why? What are they to me?""Your Created children, that's what they are! With the capacityfor Heaven if only they could find the way! And the number of thelost exceeds by billions those few who have the wisdom, the guidance,the experience, the insight, the gift. And you know it! How can youlet so many vanish into the shadows of Sheol once more, ordisintegrate, or hug the earth becoming evil spirits? Didn't you come to savethem all?""I came to save those who would be saved!" He said. "Again, I tellyou it is a cycle, it is Natural, and for each soul that goes nowunimpeded into the Light of Heaven, thousands of others must fail.
Of what value is it to Understand, to Accept, to Know, to See theBeauty? What would you have me do?""Help the souls who are lost! Help them. Don't leave them in thewhirlwind, don't leave them in Sheol struggling for millennia to gainunderstanding by what they can still see on Earth! You've madethings worse, that's what you've done!""How dare you!""You've made it worse! Look at this battlefield, and Your Crossappeared in the sky before this battle, and now Your Cross becomesthe emblem of the empire! Since the death of the witnesses who sawyour Kisen Body, only a trickle of the dead has gone into the Lightfrom Earth, and multitudes have been lost in argument, and battle,and misunderstanding, languishing in darkness!""My Light is for those who would receive it.""That's not good enough!"God Incarnate struck Memnoch hard across the face. Memnochstaggered back, wings unfolding, as if reflexively so that he could takeflight. But they settled once again, a few graceful white feathersswirling in the air, and Memnoch raised his hand to the imprint ofGod's hand which blazed on the side of his face. I could see theimprint of the hand distinctly, blood-red as the wounds in the anklesand in the hands of Christ.
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