AERAGEL WAS ONE WITH THE SEA tossing about the disciples' boat.

     It was the fourth watch of the night and Jesus stood alone on the shore of the Sea of Galilee while the disciples' boat was already at a considerable distance offshore.

     Aeragel's anguish put the four winds in a violent commotion, stirring up agitated waves. Angels had a Godlike intimacy with the sea. Water reflected their spirit to the natural world like starlight. They loved it as they loved the first thing God created—light. Both water and light effected a powerful influence on the human spirit. For those who naturally desired light and those who lived by the sea, denying the existence of God would be almost impossible.

     Today, Aeragel watched the boat with the eye of the storm.

     She turned into a furious squall, one with the waves buffeting the boat as the disciples rowed hard against the storm.

     "Ghost!" a terrified voice rang from the stern.

     The disciples looked back across the waves and saw a figure walking on the water.

     "A spirit!" An overpowering fright spread through the screaming disciples.

     "Take courage, it is I," Jesus called out in a calm voice. "Do not be afraid."

     "Lord, if it's you," Peter, notorious for saying what came to mind without much thought, said, "tell me to come to you in the water."

     "Come," Jesus said."

     Peter jumped out of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.

     Aeragel undulated about Jesus in huge round ridges of supplication. An angel's deep prayer.

     Cain's former guardian angel implored Jesus for the condemned man's redemption.

     Jesus remained silent. He knew something even Aeragel would never know until it happened. He had known long before this moment. He had seen everything before they came to pass. Now that destiny was unfolding, he felt sad for Aeragel. And for Cain.

     An archangel would fall.

     Aeragel's power frightened Peter, and beginning to sink, he cried out to Jesus," Lord, save me."

     Jesus reached out his hand and caught Peter, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

     They got into the boat.

     "Aeragel," Jesus said to the angel without a word. "What you're going to do, you must do."

     Aeragel felt Jesus' gentle rebuke. She had the chance to fulfill her mission when Cain confronted Jesus in the mountain, she could have taken the Devil's Dagger from him when he was at his weakest and most vulnerable, but she didn't do it.

      Aeragel swelled one last time, begging Jesus for forgiveness, and formed the likeness of her human form made of tiny tornadoes. She stood still on the water.

     The storm died down.

     The disciples in the boat fell on their knees and worshipped Jesus saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God."

     In an instant, the boat arrived at the shore to which it was heading.

     Aeragel was left standing in the middle of the sea.

     Jesus appeared on the water, facing away from Aeragel, walking towards the shore. Aeragel gave him a longing gaze.

     "Follow me," Jesus said.

     Aeragel hesitated. First Jesus commanded her to fulfill her mission. Now he told her to follow him. But she obeyed and glided over the water right behind Jesus.

     "My Father in Heaven is well pleased that you fulfilled your mission to protect me from Cain."

     Aeragel's tornadoes froze, making her look like a statue. He didn't know! How could the Son of God not know about her mission?

     Jesus turned and extended his hand to take Aeragel's hand. "Come, I'll take you where you belong."

     "You have to do better than this, Baphomet," Aeragel said.

     He stood still. A pentagram appeared on his forehead before he turned into the demon prince of the air. Aeragel's former commander in Heaven.

     "If you want to impersonate Christ Jesus," Aeragel said, "at least know the facts."

     They were instantly in the Judean Desert where Satan tempted Jesus. The sun was at its highest point.

     "Impressive," Baphomet said. "You learned everything I thought you, my protégé."

     "Except rebellion."

     "Ah, you know how it feels to live with no choice but to serve God. It's like being human."

     "Humans have a choice—either salvation or damnation." Aeragel knew that it was dangerous to talk with the wisest of all fallen angels, but she must distract him or else he will discover her true mission.

     "There are no choices, Aeragel..."

     "You have already made yours."

     "...heaven and hell aren't real. They're just whimsical ideas that exist only in the mind. One is born out of the innate desire for perfect world, the other is the utmost projection of all fears."

     Aeragel blew hot air out of her mouth in disdain for her former captain. He just used the mother of all the devil's strategies against God on her like she wouldn't see through it. A lie veiled with philosophical bent. The immediate individual existence was the only reality, the only meaning of life. Everything existed in the now. A realm of energies and elements, Life meant survival of the fittest. And the triumphant would decide what's good or evil. And death would be the final destination. No heaven or hell. No God.

     "Frankly, I'm quite surprised that you haven't figured it out just yet," Baphomet said, clasping his hands below his chin like he's about to reveal a secret. "You and I do not exist."

     "Interesting," Aeragel said. So simple and so dangerous in the wrong hands. Or mind.

     "We are both a product of human imagination, Aeragel. We really owe our so-called lives to mass consciousness."

     "Really now?"

     "When people's thinking becomes sophisticated, when they understand, that will be the end of our imaginary time.

     "You think?"

     "God. Demons and angels. Even the so-called Son of God. We will all die. We will all be relegated to stuff of legend like Zeus and the Greek gods."

     "Cute and clever, Baphomet.

     "C'mon, you're supposed to be an archangel who sees events as they are. How can you turn a blind eye on the fact that humans have always had an emotional need to invent God?"

     "Have you considered writing a story about it?"

     "The idea of a universal power underlying not only the physical universe but also the moral realm is the favorite recourse of a mind, which fails to fathom the meaning of life. It brings imaginary creatures like you and me to life."

     "That's a very long explanation," Aeragel said. But she was amazed about how the devil's big lie worked so well on intelligent people with spiritual minds. Poseurs wanting to be perceived as intellectuals often uphold this dangerous deceit. It was most devastating when absorbed by the unwise who tend to think they're great thinkers. Put together, they could influence a multitude of men for the devil's picking.

     "The smart ones among them know the truth." Baphomet was far from over. He loved it when there was a captive audience. "Power and Pleasure is the name of the game. It's all about surviving and sex. Eating and sex. Winning and sex. And mostly, sex—before death. That's the real thing, not God."

     "Devilish."

     "If the real thing catches on, our unreal reality will no longer be real. That's our real reality."

     "Too many reals. There's a lie in there somewhere."

     Baphomet cracked his knuckles, hisses, his breath between the teeth. "Isn't it a little too early in time to fence with your former captain in heaven?"

     "At the outset, you demons convinced mankind there's a pantheon of gods and goddesses responsible for immortality. But now you're saying there is no God and no afterlife. I think you're either confused or delusional, former captain in heaven."

     Baphomet threw a wicked stare at Aeragel. He growled. Then he spat venom on her. It spattered and clung to her forehead.

      "How immature," Aeragel said. She tried to blow the venom off with her twisters. It didn't budge a bit. Only hellfire can eradicate it.

      Baphomet leapt over Aeragel's head into a hell portal in the air and disappeared.

     Aeragel thought of a way to simulate hellfire to get rid of the venom.

     "In your dreams, angel," the venom spoke to her in a raspy voice.