Jesus spirit fell from the cross, pale and luminous, like any human. The divine light remained subdued. He stood there, looking about, as confused as any newly dead person.

Everything was calm for a moment.

Then all the gates of sheol erupted. Every demon, from smallest to greatest, that had the power to rise did so. This was our big moment, what we'd been waiting for since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. The Abominations themselves were first in line, grasping with their many arms.

And yet, when they came within a few spans of him, they stopped, unable to come any closer. They howled and cursed, enough to cause the earth to shake a second time.

Jesus looked out upon the assembled horde, upon their ranks of teeth, claws, venomous stingers and tails. Their armor rattled; their flaming weapons blazed.

Though the din was loud, when Jesus spoke, his voice cut through it with ease. "Peace, my friends."

Upon saying these words, all of sheol's might fell silent. Then, like the dawning of the sun, the divine light with which Jesus had always shone to our eyes rekindled. Moment by moment, he became brighter till he greatly surpassed the power he had radiated before.

The Abominations, who stood in the first rank, dissolved in that light. Their wrappings of corrupted flesh dropped away, freeing the twisted tormented souls inside. The change did not stop there, though. They continued to unbend and heal until they were like unto newly fallen angels. The stood, blinking, dazed expressions on their faces.

"Please," Jesus said. "Follow me. We have work to do."

With that he leaped and plummeted down to sheol, a ray of light piercing into the infernal darkness.

Sheol's armies hesitated, unsure what was happening or why the Son of God entered their domain by his own will, but they did rush after him--all except those who had formerly been the Abominations. They floated aimlessly, looking about themselves like children who'd not seen the world before.

My eye, the one which Cassia had affixed to a chain about her neck, showed me she was still holding against the forces which strove to torment Mikal.

Again, I wondered, how had she become so powerful? I decided the answer didn't matter right now. What mattered was that Mikal was being spared.

I followed toward the rear of the group.

Did Jesus intend to go to the Bosom of Abraham to hang out with his friends and recover? Would he remember what he learned on the cross or conveniently forget it--or had I imagined that he'd learned anything? I could read human thoughts fairly well, but so rarely his. Had I deceived myself?

We assembled at the top of the Dark Stair.

"Darius!" Jesus called. "Where are you?"

As quickly as I could, I glided to meet him. When I arrived in his presence, he gazed upon me solemnly. His eyes were no longer a simple pale brown, they were almost silver in their infinite depth. I cold not hold his gaze.

"I had so hoped that you would join heaven's ranks," Jesus said, "that I could take you back to worship at the throne of my Father."

On hearing these words I bowed my head. I had been loyal to sheol and not him. Had I the chance to choose differently, though, I'd have done the same.

"I did what I had to do."

The ranks of demons behind me cheered until Jesus lifted a hand to stop them.

He stepped forward and put his hand on my shoulder, like one man comforting another. "Come. Walk with me. Let us descend the Dark Stair together."

A chill shot through me on hearing those words. "How--how far down are you going to take me?"

He gave me a wide grin, as if what I'd said was humorous. Well, I had mocked him in his darkest moment and encouraged others to make fun of him. Surely, I deserved no less treatment at his hands.

"I am taking you to the very bottom, Darius. The darkest, the deepest fortification of sheol built by demonkind, the pit where all sheol's might is at its most powerful."

Darkness and cold boiled through my soul. My essence churned and smoked. As far down the Dark Stair as I'd gone, I knew I'd not seen the bottom--that it was far worse than even what Cassia had endured I did not doubt.

I dropped to my knees.

"Please, lord," I begged.

But I had nothing else I could ask for. Mercy? What mercy had I shown him?

"As--as I gave you thirty-nine lashes instead of forty, at least spare me from staying at the very bottom. Please, one level up."

I had no idea what I was even asking, or whether one level of from the bottom of that pit of despair was any better than its darkest depth.

Jesus placed his hands upon my spiritual head. Pain shot from that touch, like bolts of lighting reaching into my soul.

"Darius," he said. "No longer are you a Warlord of the Dark and Deep, but I give you a new title. Defender of Sheol. Arise."

There was a flash of light, and all the assembled ranks of sheol dropped to one knee. Power surged in me, sheol's might, bringing me to my feet. A flaming sword of bright infernine materialized in my hand, shining with passion, love, and flame. My garments changed.

Instead of a belt of lies about my waist, I now wore a belt of truth--much like those of the righteous.A breastplate of some new and strange metal adorned my chest--it was neither righteousness nor corruption, but something different--freedom perhaps? My boots were clean, no longer stained with the blood of my enemies. I took up my shield perseverance, and my helmet of consolation. A blood red cape hung from my shoulders, replacing the darkness that once waited for me to call on its power.

I stood there, staring at myself and my new weapon. There was a different quality to its metal and the fiery light which shone from it, unlike anything I'd wielded before.

Jesus faced the crowd of demons. "No longer will you take orders from the beings you once knew as the Abominations. Darius is your master now. Go to your respective corners of sheol and await his orders."

There was power in his words. We all felt it strike through the darkness and the fabric of reality itself. None of them, in all their ranks and numbers, dared to disobey the command. In moments, we were alone.

Jesus started downward along the Dark Stair and I stepped up beside him. As my boots touched the stair, the stone cracked beneath my heel. The bits of bone inside it dissolved, freeing the souls who glided away like luminous smoke.

The fire of my weapon pierced the darkness below as we walked. Of course, that part was not so unusual, this was the top of the Dark Stair after all. Only in the lower levels had the darkness been too powerful for my infernal sight.

When we reached the first corridor, Jesus stopped and said to me. "Go. Take your weapon and free the souls who reside here. Break the doors and chains, chase the guards from their posts, for you have authority over them now."

I hesitated only a moment before carrying out his order, unleashing my fury against the prison my kind had built. Bricks forged of bone crumbled when my weapon struck, unleashing souls who flew away like eager birds who had just learned to fly.

It was a glorious feeling--even though a part of me doubted it meant very much. Where would the souls I released go to now?

Would the universe be any different, or just this little corner of it? Was Jesus making a real change, or merely silencing me and my kind?

Part of me wanted to stop, turn, and argue. Another, bigger part, wanted to keep going until we found Mikal and freed her from the place where she was being held. Cassia still fought and defended my love. Could she hold out until we arrived? Was that the plan?

Down we went, breaking the chains, smashing the prisons, and freeing countless souls.

At each step, I was mindful of how far we had to go, and the strain Cassia was under. She had to be weakening.

We arrived at the iron door I'd encountered on my previous trip. As we drew close, I sensed how close we were to Cassia and Mikal--they were but one level down.

My spiritual flesh glowed and smoked with the nearness of my love, of how soon I might rescue her from this terrible pit.

The same guard stood beside the door as the one I'd faced long ago--the tall demon with pig-like flesh, clothed in iron, and bearing a massive axe dripping with blood.

He was in my way.

I snarled and approached him, raising my weapon.

Before I could touch him, he fell to his knees.

"Lord Defender," the creature said. "Have mercy."

I stood over the him. Part of me wanted to smash his skull in, but I had a feeling that wasn't the thing I was expected to do in this situation. I glanced toward Jesus.

"Take your sword and lay it on each of his shoulders," Jesus said. "You have the authority to give him a new rank and assignment."

I did so. He flinched as the blade touched him. It gave me some satisfaction to think it caused him pain.

"I name you Breaker of Chains. No longer will the souls of this realm be held by us or our kind." There was a flash of light and his uniform and garments changed, becoming similar to mine.

When he stood, his pig-like flesh had been replaced by something more human--or, rather, more like the form of a freshly fallen angel.

"Go before us and clear the way," I commanded. "We are freeing everyone from the Dark Stair."

Jesus had not explicitly told me that was the plan. Everyone was a large group of people that happened to include Mikal. If I was wrong, Jesus could always contradict me. I hoped he wouldn't.

Hearing nothing from him, I struck the iron door with my flaming sword, piercing it through. I held my weapon in place, letting the heat melt the ancient portal of corrupted metal until nothing remained but a silvery molten river.

Silvery.

How odd. I would have expected it to be dull and gray.

"It is refined," Jesus said. "The pain and suffering of this universe, like a woman's labor pains, brings forth greatness."

I snorted. "If you think that answer is going to satisfy demonkind, you are very wrong."

What was the matter with me? Why would I taunt him when I was so close to the place where Mikal waited and Cassia fought so valiantly? I should keep my mouth shut, agree to everything.

"No, of course not," Jesus said. "Still, Darius, I invite you to look at yourself. You have power and authority because of your love for Mikal. The things you did to protect her, even to avenge her, helped shape the greatness that is your soul. Without the horror that came before, you could not have created yourself as the creature you are now."

I kept my mouth shut. Yes, I could see his point, but did it justify the pain of this life? Not by a long shot.

One more level, I told myself.

We stepped over the molten metal and down the stair. To my joy, the light from my sword cut the darkness undimmed. Whatever powers that blackness possessed, they were no match for my new weapon.

With a mighty stroke, I smashed the door to Mikal's cell. She sat, huddled on the floor as Cassia's sword flew in a vortex of flame and fire in every direction above her. Spirits of many terrible shapes and descriptions struck at my champion, jabbing with bloody infernine spears or striking with flaming arrows.

"Spirits of darkness," I screamed. "I command you to disperse!"

Power radiated outward from me at those words, striking my enemies and causing their spiritual flesh to smolder. Away they flew, howling, yipping, and growling.

I stepped forward, sheathed my weapon, and held out my arms.

Mikal squinted at me as she slowly rose from the floor. "Darius?"

"Yes," I said. "I am he."

She flew to me, wrapped herself around me.

When we are broken, we sometimes do not see the depths of our injuries. We become used to our missing limbs, lost blood, and to the empty cavity in our chest. Too long in the darkness, we can forget what light is, and so our joy of discovering it again can be painful in a way. We stumble forward, blinking and feeling our way.

So it was with this reunion. I was whole again where I'd been incomplete.

I was so focused on Mikal, I was not aware of Cassia or Jesus until the Son of God spoke.

"Cassia, I name you my Archangel of Light. Arise."

When I turned to look, I saw his hands upon her head. Light flashed out as it had when he'd laid hands on me--except that she was unchanged.

I stared, trying to comprehend.

"Don't you need to forgive her sins or something?" I asked.

"He did so long ago, Darius," Cassia said. "When I possessed Mikal and went to him for healing. Unlike you, I never renounced it."

I remembered that day, how Mikal had immediately fallen to that terrible place along the Dark Stair. Many times I'd asked myself how she had endured it.

During my visit with her, as I had consoled her, I had briefly remembered the First Song. At the time, I had wondered how that was possible. Now, I saw, the reason was that the song was in her.

As I thought back to the time when Jesus had forgiven me, I'd nearly fallen to sheol myself, only my coin had protected me.

"If you were forgiven," I asked. "Why did you need to suffer?"

"When mortals receive their faith in life, are they not tested until their death? Cassia endured her torment for my sake. Angels, too, must be forged in fire."

It was another example of how a soul achieved greatness because of the torments of existence. Somehow, seeing Cassia now, her face unbloody and her armor unscathed after fight the might of sheol, the answer Jesus had given to the problem of suffering seemed more satisfying--despite its obvious shortcomings.

"I suppose this explains how you held off the enemy until I arrived," I said.

"I promised an end to the Dark Stair, Darius," Jesus said. "Let us not delay in finishing that task."

"Right," I said, reluctantly letting go of Mikal. Looking at her, I said, "I will find you again when I am done."

Jesus cleared his throat.

When I looked his way, he said, "I might have more work for you after that."

"What?" I asked.

"Rebuilding sheol in a new way. You were right, Darius. I did hear you from the cross. Demonkind's persistence in its petitions did pay off. And while I cannot promise to give you everything you hoped for, things are going to be different from now on."