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Twilight had come and gone, and nighttime cloaked the world in soothing darkness. Cicadas buzzed, signaling the onset of summer and the beginning of warm, short nights. A drab gray moth fluttered in through the open window and went into orbit around the solitary lantern on the desk. The lantern was a simple model he had purchased from a peddler some time ago. A globe of oven-baked clay sat on a saucer, a wick coming from the top of the orb. A glass cylinder, tapered at the top, protected the yellow flame from stray gusts of wind.

"There's no moon tonight, so you come here instead?" Levi dabbed his quill and set it to the side. "I am afraid this light will hold no comfort for you." The coyote tapped the base of the lantern with his claw. "Be gentle for our guest." He turned a beaded knob at the base of the lantern, and the flame shrank until only a faint orange glow surrounded the wick. The moth landed on the lantern's lip. "Better for you," he said to the moth, "but it looks like I no longer have enough light to write by." He wiped a few bread crumbs from his tunic, rose from his stool, and picked up his plate. "It's getting late enough. I should retire."

He padded to the window and tilted his plate, gazing at the scene while leftover bits of dry food tumbled to the ground. The other houses were dark now, save one. The carpenter lived there. Most nights he whittled until the early hours of the morning, or so Levi supposed. Whenever he had woken during the night, that house would always be lit. He'd never asked about it, though. It wasn't any of his concern.

Levi closed and latched the window, then set the plate back on his desk. "Seems like such a waste of energy," he said to the moth, holding back a yawn. "I'll wash it tomorrow."

Although the outside air was warm, the wood floor was cool, so Levi chose to do his reading on his mattress. "Pardon me." He plucked up the lantern, shooing away the moth, and brought it beside his bed. The moth fluttered alongside him in a haphazard zigzag pattern, as if angry he had stolen its seat. "I'll need a little more light." He turned the knob again, and the flame increased in brilliance until it bathed the whole room in light.

He picked up a worn, leather-bound book from beside his bed, sat cross-legged on the mattress, and placed the book in his lap. A bookmark made from pressed bark, a present from the carpenter's daughter, indicated his place in the book. Levi opened the book and set the bookmark to the side.

He bowed his head as he ran a claw along the page, mouthing the words as he read them. He looked up and sighed. "You are the Almighty, the Redeemer who purchased me from slavery to sin and death, and now I serve You. Reveal Your word to me again, Master. Declare Your truth, and teach me the message to give."

A tongue of fire from the lantern leaped into the air, encircling the moth and incinerating its wings. Heat from the flame blasted his arm, scorching his fur. He threw himself to the ground, tucked his head under his arm, and reached for the lantern base, but the heat scalded his paw. The acrid smell of burned fur penetrated his nostrils. "What's going on here?" The flames spun into a cyclone as tall as a man. Levi backed away, clutching his book to his chest, in awe of the fire that had come to life. "Master, what is this?"

The cyclone slowed, and the flames dwindled. In its place stood a tall man with a gaunt face and flour-white skin. His crimson eyes were like a dull ember, ready to spark to life at the slightest breath. His lips were pulled into a thin frown across his teeth. The man was dressed in a tunic and breeches similar to Levi's, but off-white instead of pale green. "Levi Wolstrom," the man said.

"W-who are you?" Levi held the book closer. His ears pressed against the side of his head, and he forced himself to breathe slowly to keep from hyperventilating. "I know you are no human. Do you come for good or ill?"

"You ask me who I am?" The man's frown deepened, and his eyes flashed red. "Of all people, I assumed you would know. After all, you wrote about me." He sighed. "But I suppose I thought too highly of you. It's a shame when an oracle can't see the obvious."

Levi tried to search his mind for some clue to the man's identity, but his thoughts were so jumbled now that he could barely remember his own address. As the man glowered above him, a name surfaced. He had written about an enigmatic figure before, a man whose physical description matched the one who stood before him now. But that was a story, not reality. How could it be? "No... you're... Abaddon?"

"But of course. Who else would I be?" He stooped and extended a hand with long, bony fingers. "Now stand."

If it was Abaddon, then he could be trusted. Although many who read the book believed the angel to be a demon or even the devil himself, Levi thought the angel's qualities did not truly match those of a fallen being. Levi grasped the man's hand, and the man tightened his grip, crushing the bones in Levi's paw. His hands were cold, like a corpse. Abaddon pulled him to his feet. "But how? I thought... the description of you in my story was something I made up. Do you really look like this?"

Abaddon loosened his grip and shrugged. "It is not your place to know the appearance of angels. Perhaps I appear to you in a form you recognize. Perhaps not. As an oracle who can see the spiritual, you may have unintentionally written my true appearance into your stories. But again, it is not for you to know. But now, we must be going."

"Going? Going where?" Levi glanced at his book. "I was about to -"

"I know what you were about to do. Leave that here," he nodded to the book. "You will not need it where we are going."

"What if I need to reference the truth?"

Abaddon touched Levi's forehead. "It should be in here. Come." Abaddon pulled on Levi's paw, and the room dissolved into thousands of spinning fragments. The shards took on a less pleasant hue, shades of black and dark red. After a few more seconds, they stabilized. Levi and Abaddon stood in the middle of a black wasteland surrounded by a blood red sky. Jagged hills rose in the distance like fangs. Sickly, yellow-green clouds wafted across the sky. Not a soul was in sight. A faint wind blew, carrying with it the faint scent of sulfur and... something else. He sniffed the air. It reminded him of a grilling pit, but who would be cooking out here?

"Where are we?"

"Earth, or what's left of it. We are seeing the aftermath of evil's last gasp. As you can see, it did not end well for the sons of men."

"Am I seeing the end of days?" Bile rose in his throat. The Revelator prophesied that the enemies of God would join forces with the devil one last time in a great rebellion, but they would be destroyed. Peter proclaimed the end of the earth as one by fire. He brushed the ground with a foot. The ground crackled under his weight. The whole place was covered in some powdery substance about half an inch thick. Ash? "I thought the world would be remade."

"The world groaned under the curse for thousands of years until finally it could take no more. The stars fell from heaven, the moon disintegrated, the sun snuffed out, the earth charred beyond recognition. Welcome to the ultimate consequence of one man's sin. In the garden, they did not know one bite would lead to the desolation you see before you." Levi glanced at Abaddon again. A faint white aura surrounded him. He glanced at his paw. The aura surrounded both of them. He let go of the angel and stepped back. Yes, even apart from the angel, he possessed it, but his glow was more ragged than the angel's. Uneven changes in intensity undulated beneath his fur, sometimes poking through and adding specks of white to the usual browns and grays. Abaddon turned to him. "Where are you going?" he asked. "There is nowhere to run, and you are far safer with me."

"I wasn't trying to run." Abaddon swept aside some of the ash with his foot. A skull, bleached white, leered up at him from the ground. Levi gasped and jumped back. What horror was this? Levi glanced down at his bare feet. What terrors lurked just out of sight?

"It is a skull, nothing more than empty framework." Abaddon brought his heel down on it just above the upper jaw, and it crumbled away. "The whole world is a graveyard now. None remain alive on it." He picked up a jaw fragment and studied it. "Soon this will join its soul in hell."

"Why did you bring me here?" Levi asked. "What good is it to show me your handiwork?"

"My handiwork?" Abaddon laughed. "I am the destroyer of all that is evil, but even I do not have the power to do this. You credit the wrong man. This is the work of El Elyon." Abaddon's announcement sucked the air from Levi's lungs and dried his mouth. It was one thing to read about the end, but it all seemed so distant, so... fanciful on paper. To see it now was nothing more than a nightmare. "But I did not bring you here to sightsee a dead world. I was setting the stage." Abaddon lifted his index finger. "You now know when we are. I want to warn you that you must now be very strong in your faith and trust in the Almighty. Nothing can prepare you for what you are about to see."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Abaddon studied him again and grabbed his wrist. "Come." Again their surroundings warped, but this time the world did not shatter. Instead, everything became indistinct before stretching into narrow vertical lines. Levi felt a vague sensation of movement, and then the world reorganized itself.

Unlike the scene before, a vast crowd of brown-faced people dressed in rags stretched before them. Every few yards, a glowing creature was mixed among them. The ones nearest Levi all faced the same direction, to his right. He looked right. Nothing, just more burned hills. He traced the line to see if the pattern continued. About twenty people to the right, the crowd shifted direction, now facing with their backs to him. "Wait..."

Each person was bound by iron fetters on both wrists and ankles. Heavy chains linked them together in rows of four, and their faces were covered by burlap sacks. The smell of sweat mingled with human waste came from the crowd, making Levi want to gag. "Who are these people? Prisoners?"

"In a matter of speaking. In life, they committed fornication with the transient, selling themselves to slavery to sin. All were given opportunity to turn to the Almighty, but all refused. They are the cowardly, the immoral, the murderers, the unbelievers, the liars, all who did not surrender to their Creator. Many knew what the Almighty demanded, but they listened to the words of demons instead. Some recognized their error in the moments after death, but by then, it was too late. Now the day of reckoning has come, and they have been found wanting."

"But the others... What about the believers? Should they not be here, too?"

"They have already been judged. They are waiting elsewhere to receive their inheritance. Do not concern yourself with them."

"Can they not see what is going on? Surely they have friends and family here?"

"I told you not to concern yourself with them. It is not for you to know."

"But -"

Abaddon struck Levi beside his eye, blinding him for a moment. "Levi Wolstrom! Are you so dense you do not realize what you see before you? Must I explain everything to you? This is not some fantasy or dream where you play no part. These are the souls of the condemned, who must now pay the price for their rebellion. Do not view them so casually!"

As Levi's vision recovered, Abaddon grew in height, and small bolts of electricity covered his entire body. "They are faced with eternal death," Abaddon continued. "Will you show no pity?"

"I... I didn't realize," Levi said, rubbing his cheek.

"You still do not comprehend it!" Abaddon stabbed a finger toward the crowd again. "Look there!"

Still shaken, Levi's gaze followed where Abaddon pointed. One figure, an inch or so taller than those around, stood on quivering knees. "Go to him. Ask one of the attending angels for permission to speak to him."

"You want me to speak to one of the damned?"

"Go!" Abaddon shoved him forward. "Do not return to me until you have done as I command."

Levi stumbled forward, his thoughts once again a mess. "What am I supposed to say to a condemned soul?" he asked. Abaddon's warning to him resounded in his mind, but he shook it off. This was too fantastic to be real. He had to be dreaming. Yes, that was it. He had been tired when he sat down to read, and he had dozed off. He approached one of the attending angels, a towering man with bronze skin dressed in a brilliant white robe. He had a gold rope tied about his waist. Words fled from Levi at the sight of him so close. "E-excuse me," he said at last. The angel turned to him, silent. "I request permission to speak to that prisoner." He pointed at the one Abaddon had indicated.

The angel answered with a voice like an earthquake. "On whose authority do you ask this?" His words echoed off the hills. Speechless, Levi pointed behind him. "I see. Permission granted. I will walk you to him."

"How long are they here?"

"They will wait until they are called to the Judgment Seat, after which they will receive the punishment due them." They stopped in front of the soul. "Wait here. I will remove his hood." The angel stood between Levi and the prisoner, blocking all view of the prisoner's face. A man gasped, and the angel bunched up the hood in his hand. The angel stepped to the side.

A moan escaped Levi's throat. In one instant, his apprehension at meeting this soul at Abaddon's prodding vanished, replaced by a wrenching pain in his stomach. His legs became like rubber underneath him, and his vision swam. "No..."

He knew this man! They had sat beside one another in the chapel. If anyone did, according to the testimony of those back in his world, certainly he belonged with the saints! Levi admitted having doubts, but who was he to determine the salvation of another? Levi called out his name. Tears sprang to his eyes, and his breath came in short bursts.

The man frowned. "Levi? What are you doing in this God-forsaken place? I thought you at least were genuine." Levi wrung his wrists. "Oh. You're free. So, what did you want to say to me?"

Levi shook his head. "No, this can't be right. You're not supposed to be here. I suspected, but--" He looked at the angel. "What is going on here?"

"If you knew, then why didn't you warn me?" The man lunged toward Levi, but the chains held him back. He spit in Levi's face, instead. "If you hadn't been so timid about what you had to say, if you'd actually bothered speaking up once in a while, maybe I would be standing there with you!"

Levi reached out to touch him, to place a paw on his arm, but the man jerked back. "Don't touch me! Your skin burns."

"I was just--" A failure. A so-called oracle too timid to warn anyone about what lay ahead. A traitor who stood by as his friends cleared a path to hell. He fell to his knees, sobbing. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough, Levi!" The man stiffened.

The angel interrupted. "It is time."

"No... I don't want to go! I don't want to see Him! Please don't, please don't make me go to Him!" He jerked his body toward Levi again, but already he was beginning to fade away. "Levi, you have to help me. Levi, don't just kneel there." He screamed. "No, let me stay!" Levi collapsed forward, reaching for his former friend's hands. His paws passed right through. The man's eyes bulged in their sockets. "No, please! God, have mercy! Please, God! I'll surrender everything to You, just don't make me go there!"

The man was gone.

Levi gritted his teeth, raised his head and wailed. His body shook as spasms overtook him, and he shouted his former friend's name. "No!" He clenched his fists so hard, blood oozed from his paws. "God, why?" No words could express his fear now. Only raw terror flooded his veins, terror at the thought of his friend...

His friend, as well as the countless others here, could never escape the torment awaiting them. There would be no chance of their punishment easing, no respite even for a second. No hope, no mercy, only the certainty of fire that destroyed but never consumed, time without end.

Someone picked him up and forced him to stand. Abaddon's crimson gaze locked with his. "Do you understand, now?"

"Why did you have to show this to me? This is hopeless." Levi could not bring himself to look back at the crowd again. How many others would he recognize, if given the chance? The thought brought a new wave of trembling, and he retched at Abaddon's feet. He would have fallen had Abaddon not supported him. "I failed all of them."

"If you have doubts, they may well be here. But I want you to understand. What you saw does not have to happen."

Levi gasped for air. "How?"

"You have not been shown the future. That is impossible, for the future does not exist. You have been given a glimpse of a possibility, one which will come to pass should nothing change."

The world shifted again. Now they were back in Levi's room. The lantern cast its friendly yellow glow throughout the room. "There's still a chance?"

"There is always a chance while they live." Abaddon placed a hand over Levi's heart. Heat surged from the point of contact and spread throughout Levi's body. "Put to death your fear and timidity. You do not have the right to state the end of any man, but neither do you have the right to be slack in your duties. Cling to the Almighty, for that is all you can do." Abaddon stepped back. "I am going now. I do not want to see you again, before the end of days. Do not make me come back." He vanished.

Still trembling, Levi sank to his mattress. "God, have mercy. Don't let me hold my tongue when so much is at stake." With a gasp of air, he blew out the lantern, filling the room with darkness. In the distance, the carpenter's light still shone. Levi sighed and rolled onto his side, facing the window. Weeping, he prayed into the night.