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  John carried 150 pounds on his 5’5” frame, but it was just enough weight on the particularly weak tree limb to snap under him. He tried to make his way back but before he could, the limb gave way and he fell some twenty feet straight to the grass and had the wind knocked out of him.

  Ornias was trying to talk his way out of the predicament he was in, but nothing seemed to be working and the weight of Ahadiel was causing him to become short of breath.

  “How . . . can I give you . . . answers . . . with your knees in my chest?” Ornias said, gasping for air.

  “You will do plenty of—” before Ahadiel could finish his sentence, he heard a noise that distracted him long enough to lose focus on his prisoner. “OOOOOW, MY LEG!!!” Then Ahadiel saw the human who made the pitiful yelp.

  Ornias heard the noise too and seized the opportunity to get away from his captor. He kicked Ahadiel in the chest, which did little to hurt the enormous angel. Instead it actually annoyed him. Ornias got up to run off, but Ahadiel grabbed him by one of his legs. Ornias was hopping on his free leg while the angel had the other. What happened next both shocked and infuriated Ahadiel. Ornias grew his black fingernails into talons and scratched Ahadiel in a backhanded swiping motion across his face and eyes, causing the angel to howl and let go of the leg to attend to his injured face. Ornias ran straight toward John, and just as John saw him coming, he raised his arms in a blocking motion to protect himself, but it didn’t help in the slightest as the demon jumped right into the poor soul who had unwittingly stepped into a spiritual confrontation with no sort of spiritual protection. John fell and became paralyzed as his body no longer belonged to him. Another entity had taken control. Ornias possessed John Summers.

  Ahadiel finally recovered, removed his hands from his eyes, and saw lines of blood on them. Although he was already healing, this made the angel extremely angry. Angry that he was bleeding, angry at the human who distracted him, angry at Ornias for scratching him, but angrier at himself for becoming distracted, which led to the events unfolding the way they did. He looked for the demon but couldn’t find him. He closed his eyes and concentrated on smelling where the demon went. If his eyes hadn’t been slightly damaged, he would have used his spiritual vision to track the essence of the demonic spirit to actually see where the demon traveled, but he was forced to rely on his nose. As he searched the air for the foul scent that all demons leave behind, he noticed the scent got stronger once he approached the invalid human. He was hoping that the demon hadn’t entered the young man, but his fears were confirmed when he smelled the tainted mixture of human and demon odors, a scent he hadn’t smelled since the days Jesus and the Disciples cast demons out of humans. According to him, those were the “good ole days.”

  Ahadiel knelt down in front of John and didn’t know what to do. He had never attempted to cast a demon out of a human before. He could call for assistance from an angel that specialized in exorcisms, but the protocol to get the necessary clearance would take entirely too long. And if he left John to get help, Ornias could very well have total possession and be gone by the time he returned. The only other option he had was to enter John and evict the demon personally. Ahadiel decided upon the latter and positioned himself on top of John and fused into the human.

  When Ahadiel entered John’s body, he could see many things—some good, some bad, neither impressed nor disgusted him. To Ahadiel, he was just another human. He had seen many humans like him throughout his many millennia of existence. His only goal for being there was to find Ornias before he could set up a permanent hold on John, which would make it immensely more difficult to remove him. He searched throughout John’s world and thought aloud, “If I were a demon, where would I be?” He assumed that the demon would probably go to the deepest, darkest part of John’s soul and that’s where he would find them both.

  He took flight and traveled from where the skies were serene and peaceful to where the skies darkened, and the turbulence in the air made it too difficult to fly. He had obviously traveled to an area where John struggled terribly in his life, resulting in the storm that Ahadiel found himself in the middle of. This area of a person’s life is a perfect breeding ground for a demon to erect a stronghold and attempt to control it for his own demonic purposes.

  Ahadiel landed and scanned the area. All he could see were the various idols built by none other than John himself. These idols were in the shape of women in suggestive poses, indicating what John struggled with most in his life. For other humans these idols might be in the shape of different things, such as cars, money, foreign gods, and even statues of themselves, for those who struggled with pride. They took lifetimes to create and no one but that person, in this case John, could have built them.

  Ahadiel saw idols as far as his angelic eyes could see. As he weathered the storm, he used his wings for protection from the poisonous rain. Thunder thundered and lightning illuminated the surrounding region, emitting enough light that Ahadiel could see a dark figure at the edge of what looked like a cliff. He approached until the figure called out to him.

  “That is far enough,” shouted Ornias with his talons across a young man’s throat. “Any closer and I will open his neck.”

  “The moment you do, I will destroy you, Ornias,” Ahadiel responded.

  “Would you rather this sinful soul be damned to the fires of hell? Huh? Would you like to explain how you lost one of The One’s precious souls?”

  “BUT I’M A BELIEVER!” shouted John.

  “Shut up you worthless human,” Ornias screamed. “You really think The One would accept you? Look at this place! You have destroyed your own temple, and you think The One will forgive you for this?” Ornias tightened his grip on John’s neck, making him cry out in pain.

  “I didn’t put these here . . . well, it was me but not really me.” John tried to explain.

  “Oh so you’re a liar too? Yes, yes, The One will be most proud of you.” Ornias scoffed.

  “John, don’t worry. I will get you out of this.” Ahadiel tried to comfort John.

  “Worried? Who’s worried? HELP ME!” John was beginning to panic.

  “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, angel,” Ornias warned.

  Then suddenly there was a fourth voice that no one recognized except for John, and he knew the situation had gotten significantly worse.

  “Let. Me. Go,” said the fourth voice.

  “Oh, no, no, NO, WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!” John was terrified.

  “Who said that?” asked Ornias.

  And then suddenly the demon was attacked. A figure climbed on top of Ornias’s back and bit a huge piece of flesh from the demon’s neck. John fell to the floor and scrambled toward the angel. They both watched as Ornias was attacked by the hooded figure. It wasn’t the attack of a seasoned warrior; it was the attack of an undisciplined madman. A positively insane man who was full of the venomous rage that consumed him.

  “We have got to get out of here. This is his part of the body and he will kill us both after he’s through with Ornias,” John warned and tried to encourage Ahadiel to leave.

  “What is that?” asked the angel.

  “It’s not what, it’s who. He is me or I am him.”

  “What?” Ahadiel was truly confused.

  “I’ll explain later, just know that this is his territory and we must leave NOW!” John responded.

  “Not without Ornias,” Ahadiel said.

  “What? Leave him.”

  “I can’t. If he stays here, he will eventually find a way to subdue him . . . you . . . and take control of this vessel permanently.”

  With that said, Ahadiel advanced on the being and the demon. The other John was quite smaller than the larger demon but had maintained the upper hand and continued to brutally attack the demon. Ornias was seriously injured from the confrontation. Whatever this thing was, it was clearly very dangerous. Ahadiel reached to grab the menace, but it looked at him with blood red eyes filled with hatred and malice, and ran off
before the angel could get ahold of him. Ahadiel was stunned at how fast he was but decided not to give chase. He knelt down to carry Ornias, but before he could, the being ran and scratched Ahadiel in the face and ran off again. It came back for a second assault, but Ahadiel grabbed him by the neck in mid-run and looked at him as he struggled in his arms. The other John was unkempt and dirty with dirty hair, filthy yellow sharp teeth, and bloodshot eyes. He cursed the angel, himself, and God. This person was undoubtedly demented. Ahadiel walked the creature to the edge of the precipice and dropped him. He picked Ornias off the ground and walked back toward John.

  “If you don’t mind, could you hurry up,” shouted John, trying to be heard over the thunder and lightning.

  “I don’t see the need to rush. I have the demon and the other you is over the cliff.” Ahadiel said with confidence in his voice.

  “You don’t understand, you can’t kill me here. This is my body. You’ve only slowed . . .”

  And then a hand reached up onto the gravel over the edge, and both John and the angel looked toward the cliff.

  “. . . him . . .”

  And the madman pulled himself up to where all that could be seen of him were his terrifying red eyes.

  “. . . down.”

  And the other John pulled himself completely up the cliff and started to run toward the three intruders on his land. John and Ahadiel, carrying the bruised demon, began to run as fast as they could. They ran past the female idols that the other John built and noticed that he was gaining on them, until Ahadiel grabbed John by his shirt and flapped his majestic wings and flew straight into the air. He almost made a clean get away, but the other John grabbed the angel’s foot. Ahadiel looked at him and simply kicked him off, and the tortured soul careened to the ground, crashing into a few idols. The other John shook off the fall and watched as they escaped. Ahadiel traveled battling the wind and rain until the skies began to change from black to twilight and then to a very calm, peaceful, and beautiful blue. Ahadiel saw a paradise that could almost rival heaven. Its beauty was truly captivating, and then he heard John speak.

  “This is my region; you can set us down here.”

  It was a gorgeous meadow with flowers of all kinds, small trees, large trees, and even rivers. It was an amazing place for any soul to make a home.

  “You built this place, John?” asked the angel, setting Ornias down on the grass. The demon had lost an eye, a big chunk of his neck, and part of his wing in the confrontation with the other John, but even now he was slowly but surely beginning to heal.

  “Yes, I did,” John said with righteous pride.

  “This place is wonderful. It’s almost as beautiful as heaven itself.” Ahadiel complimented. “I must ask you, what happened back there? What is this place?”

  “I don’t know much. All I can tell you is that ever since I’ve been here, he’s been here”

  “The other you?”

  “Yes, and he is exceptionally evil. All he wants to do is destroy . . . everything.”

  “And what about you?” asked Ahadiel.

  “I don’t want to destroy anything. I only want to do what is good and see it prevail. We are inside the spiritual world of John, which is his inner body. We have been fighting for years, trying to control the body. Sometimes I win, sometimes he wins, but we always fight.”

  “Why was he so strong?” Ahadiel questioned.

  “We were deep, too deep in his control of the body. He derives his strength from his territory, like I do mine. Here, I am strong enough to imprison him, but only here. That’s why he never comes here and I never go there . . . if and when we do fight, it’s always on neutral ground.” John tried to explain as best he could. “But now I have questions for you. Who are you?”

  “I am Ahadiel; Peace Keeper of the Heavenly Order of the Most High Elohim.” Ahadiel proclaimed.

  “Elo-who?”

  “Elohim . . . means ‘God’ and I am in his service.”

  “Oh wow, YOU work for The Most High?

  “Yes, I do.”

  “That is great, just great . . . what in the world are you doing here?” John said, shrugging the angel off.

  “My mission was to track down this . . . WHERE DID HE GO?” Ahadiel looked frantically and scanned for any sign of where the demon had gone, but there was no trail that he could see. The only thing that he could see was demonic residue where Ornias had lain, and then the vapor disappeared into a portal that was there but was gone.

  “Did you not see him escape?” asked the angel in a loud tone, but he did not scream at the human soul.

  “No, I was . . . I didn’t see anything,” John answered.

  “I must leave at once.” Ahadiel tried to open a portal but couldn’t. He tried again and it still didn’t work. He concentrated harder and focused his mind on creating a third portal, and it actually held for a second before it collapsed again. Then suddenly a three-foot-long, black chain appeared and clasped onto John and Ahadiel. The manacles seared themselves onto the wrists of John and Ahadiel, and neither could hide how painful it was. The cuffs had barbs on the inside and dug into the flesh of the two individuals. Both began to bleed and the slightest tug or pull only made their small injuries worse.

  Ahadiel realized he was trapped with John, stuck as a foreigner in a strange country with no way to return home. Neither John nor Ahadiel was pleased with the situation that had befallen them. Ahadiel took out his sword and was trying to figure out the best angle to swing that would cut the chains but not injure John or himself. However, John didn’t feel comfortable with the angel making any sort of attempt, so Ahadiel decided he would seek The One’s help, but finding a way to “gate out” of the body was the dilemma.

  John woke up in pain with a leaf in his hair. He took it out and lay on the green Central Park grass in the middle of the cool night sky. A massive headache erupted and he clutched his head. His back hurt as well when he realized he was tangled in a fallen tree limb. He placed his hands under the tree to procure a better grip as he lightly pushed the tree limb off, but the tree flew forty feet into the air and landed across the street over seventy feet away. John was shocked at what happened and jumped to his feet, but his jump landed him at the very top of the tree that he fell from. He was now afraid and shouted, “What is happening to me?”

  John looked down from his perch, and what he saw blew his mind. Not only could he see individual blades of grass, but he could see an earthworm slithering through the grass and trying to burrow its way into the soil. He could not only see the worm, he could also hear him. He heard the grass being moved by the sliding worm, but suddenly he heard a car horn outside the park and fell out of the tree again. On the way down John hit the broken tree limb that stuck out of the tree and landed on the ground. He cried out when the branch bore into his leg and protruded out the other side. John called for help twice but no one came, and he decided to try to pull it out himself, something that he had only seen in movies. He thought he was crazy for trying it himself. But he reached down and grabbed one end of the branch and pulled it out of his leg. He winced from the pain and even let out a small whimper. The tree limb was covered in his blood, and he put his finger through his cargo pant leg and looked to see how bad the wound was. It looked very bad but almost instantly began healing itself right in front of his eyes, until it was whole again with no trace of a scar. The blood that remained was the only clue to a rupture in his flesh. “My God,” John said as he stood up very slowly and began walking out of the park. The cacophony of sounds, from the honking horns, the screeching tires, even people having conversations on their cellphones, pounded his head and made his headache that much worse.

  He came to a crosswalk and waited for the image of the “white walking man” to appear in the pedestrian traffic light before he crossed. When he had the right of way he stepped into the middle of the street, but a taxicab driver overeager to catch a new rider ran the red light and was about to hit John. When John realized he was about to
get hit, he tried to brace himself for the impact with his outstretched arms. His hands met the hood of the car and dented it; he applied so much force to the front of the car that the back of the taxi went five feet into the air before it slammed back down. People looked at John with shock and awe. Although New Yorkers are used to seeing many things, they had never seen a man stop a speeding car with his bare hands. For at that moment the world stopped, and all eyes were on him, something he had never experienced before. Before anyone could ask him if he was alright, he ran off, and in a blink of an eye, he was gone.

  John arrived at his apartment and opened the door with two fingers and closed it with his pinky so he didn’t cause further damage to anything else. He was tired from the day and exhausted from the ordeal he just had, promising himself that he would find out what was happening to him, tomorrow. It would be best to figure it all out on a full night’s sleep and fully sober. He took his clothes off and lay in his bed. Sleep not only came, it overtook him in a matter of seconds.

  Ahadiel had been working on making portals for about an hour and most of his attempts ended in defeat, but he could tell with each passing moment that making them was becoming a little easier. A few of the portals were stable for more than a few seconds but not long enough for him to pass through, let alone with two beings. And when he wondered why, he realized that his portals were attempts to exit the body, but they weren’t attempts to go to another dimension, say heaven or even hell. When Ahadiel grasped that concept he decided to try another way. He opened a beautiful, stable, blue starry portal that led directly to heaven. Pleased with his accomplishment, he woke up the resting soul.

  “Why are the skies darkening,” Ahadiel asked John.

  “The body is resting; most vital operations are shutting down,” he replied.