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Chapter Ten: The Awakening.

The dreadful day had finally arrived.
July 15th.
Far below, upon the Earth, the nations prepared for Disclosure. Governments assembled. Scientists rehearsed their speeches. Military aircraft patrolled silent skies. News reporters counted down the hours to what many believed would become the greatest announcement in human history.
But far above the heavens...
beyond the stars...
beyond time itself...
another kingdom was preparing for a far greater moment.
Before the immeasurable Throne of the Almighty, countless ranks of faithful angels stood in silent reverence. Their number stretched farther than any eye could follow, each one clothed in splendour reflecting the glory of the One they served.
No voice dared break the silence.
No wing moved.
No creature stirred.
Then one among the heavenly hosts stepped forward.
The Archangel Michael.
His armour gleamed like polished silver beneath the everlasting light of Heaven. His face bore neither fear nor uncertainty, only the quiet confidence of one who had served faithfully since before the foundations of the Earth.
Approaching the Throne, he fell upon one knee.
To human ears his voice would have sounded like countless trumpets echoing across eternity.
"My Lord..."
He paused.
"It is time."
Silence answered him.
Then...
the Almighty spoke.
No earthly language has ever possessed words capable of describing His voice.
Thunder is but a whisper compared to it.
The mountains of Earth would have dissolved beneath its authority.
It was the voice that had spoken light into darkness.
The voice before which every faithful angel rejoiced...
and every fallen spirit trembled.
Only one command was given.
"Awaken them."
Immediately Michael rose.
Without movement...
without flight...
without crossing any distance...
he simply ceased to be before the Throne.
In the same instant he appeared within another realm of Heaven.
The Seventh Heaven.
Few among the heavenly host had ever entered this sacred place.
It was reserved for purposes known only to the Almighty.
An overwhelming peace filled the chamber.
Everything shimmered with living light.
Beneath Michael's feet stretched a floor of crystal so flawless it reflected the glory of Heaven like an endless sea of glass.
Towering pillars of pure white light disappeared into heights beyond sight.
Streams as clear as liquid crystal flowed silently between magnificent gardens unlike anything found upon the Earth.
The air itself seemed alive with holiness.
Nothing here had ever known corruption.
Nothing had ever known sorrow.
At the very centre of the immense chamber stood seven magnificent cloud-like canopies, suspended above the crystal floor as though resting upon the breath of God Himself.
Michael approached them slowly.
Upon each canopy lay a familiar figure.
Daniel, Tim, Bobby, Rachel, Cathy, Sidney and Tom.
Each lay perfectly still.
Their eyes remained open.
Yet they saw nothing.
No breath stirred their bodies.
No muscle moved.
Faint streams of radiant light flowed from each resting spirit, disappearing into the unseen depths beyond the chamber, connecting them to another reality...
one they believed to be their only existence.
Behind Michael stood thousands of faithful angels in perfect ranks, their armour shining like burnished silver beneath Heaven's living light.
None spoke.
Even among angels this chamber was regarded with holy reverence.
Michael slowly lifted his hand.
His voice rolled through the chamber like countless silver trumpets.
"Awaken them."
Seven mighty angels stepped forward.
At precisely the same moment, each gently placed a hand upon the forehead of one sleeping spirit.
Silence.
Then...
every canopy erupted with brilliant light.
Daniel gasped.
Rachel cried aloud.
Tom stumbled from his resting place.
Tim instinctively reached for a briefcase that no longer existed.
Sidney clutched at invisible lottery tickets.
Cathy searched wildly for the stars.
Bobby staggered backwards.
Every one of them breathed as though men rescued from drowning, breaking the surface after an endless descent.
For several long moments none understood where they were.
Then...
They looked around.
The crystal floor.
The living light.
The countless angels.
Michael.
Heaven.
Rachel covered her mouth.
"We're... home."
Daniel whispered,
"The Throne..."
Tim slowly looked down at his own hands.
"No..."
"No..."
"It wasn't real?"
Michael looked upon them with great compassion.
"It was real."
"But not as you understood."
Confusion spread across every face.
Tom looked desperately around the chamber.
"My parents..."
"My life..."
"My debts..."
"Were they all lies?"
Michael gently shook his head.
"No."
"They were never yours."
The seven stared at him in stunned silence.
Michael continued.
"You have never yet walked upon the Earth."
"You have never left the Kingdom of Heaven."
"You have been here..."
"...always."