The Book of Azrael

By James Buffin

Lucifer is opening hellgates and letting the seven deadly sins out of hell and upon the Earth. God has sent Azrael and Abaddon to send them back and save the world from hell on Earth. Their journey will take them across the world and even other dimensions. They will face the darkest and wickedest demons, gods, and demigods. They will gain new companions along their way, as well as gaining new powers and God weapons, along with ancient artifacts of great power. Their angel brothers help when they can, but it’s up to Azrael and Abaddon to persevere and lock the seven deadly sins and Lucifer back into hell. Will they win the war or will they fall in battle?

From heaven to hell and everything in between. With an array of characters, traveling all around the world and even to other dimensions, good and evil come head to head. There’s something for everyone. Packed with action and suspense—a thrill ride for sure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662443398

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The Book of Azrael

James Buffin

Copyright © 2021 James Buffin

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-6624-4338-1 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-4339-8 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

To my mom, dad, my sister, Steve, and both of my kids.

Thank you to those that supported me in this project.

I love you all. This would not have happened if it was not for you.

Chapter 1

Nikoli

Nikoli had spent most of his autumn afternoon cutting and splitting wood out front of a magnificently grand marble monastery. Standing three stories tall, the front doors were made of heavy stained oak wood with black iron hinges. Four marble columns stood at each corner, with a grand domed roof made of solid gold in the center, hidden by the massively overgrown forest around it.

Nikoli looked like most any commoner, about five foot, eight inches tall, long black hair down past his shoulders, skin so pale he looked sickly, with sunken cheeks, a thin long nose and a nonexistent jawline, and dark circles forming under his jade colored eyes. Nikoli’s body was thin but slightly toned, and his arms and legs were long and gangly.

As the sun was setting, he was enjoying the view of the valley below, the rolling hills littered with eighty-foot-tall one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old oak trees and the colors of autumn upon them. With the rushing sounds of the creek below bringing life to the valley traveling from the sea to the north.

There, just over the second hill, smoke bellowed coming from the village of Newmark, an orange red glow emanated in intensity against the plumes of smoke pouring into the autumn sky. The citizens’ wails rang clearly in the cool night air. Deciding to take off at a full sprint, not looking at where he was going, his foot got hung up on an exposed root of an old oak that he never noticed before. Tumbling end over end, his body slammed repeatedly into the side of the hill, sliding off a raised cliff before hitting hard, head first, into the creek below.

He woke to a massive headache. Cuts and bruises now covered his torso and legs. His left arm looked like ground meat hanging from the bone. His vision was blurred, the ice-cold water washing over him. Nikoli’s head was bleeding, blood pouring down his face, dripping on his hands and into the creek water. He used the water as a mirror in the moonlight to check his wound. Now seeing the severity of the gash—starting at his forehead and curving down back behind his ear with the white sparkle of his skull exposed—he packed it with dirt to slow the bleeding.

His arms were weak and shaking, grasping at the dirt and weeds on the edges of the bank, pulling with all his strength before he collapsed. As he gathered more strength to pull himself all the way out of the creek, he heard the sound of trees cracking and falling to the forest floor and felt a vibration that shook the ground like an earthquake, something huge was coming his way. Suddenly, a cascade of soil, rocks, and bushes covered Nikoli’s body, not able to move from the sheer weight of all the dirt.

Something large was digging around his body through the debris; it seemed to have found its way to Nikoli’s leg. It felt hot and wet around his calf. He was pulled out by his leg, screaming in agony as a sharp hot pain came from his shin. With a cracking sound and more pain than he had ever felt, he became queasy and nauseous from the break. His shin bone broke and protruded through the skin.

Taking two large leaps, the beast was now in front of the open door to the monastery.

Suspended in air upside down, Nikoli could see an outline of a large man in the back of the room in front of the marble fireplace with a shadow hanging over him. An ominous orange light enveloped the whole room from the large fireplace. Raising his hand and snapping his fingers, the beast flung Nikoli like a ragdoll through the open doorway. His body abruptly stopping against a large stone altar, right in front of the fireplace, knocking the wind from his lungs.

He desperately gasped for air, his eyes rolling into the back of his head, and he faded in and out of consciousness. The black shadowy figure picked him up as if he was a child, placing Nikoli on the stone altar and shackling his arms and legs down with chains and bindings thicker than normal. As he lay unconscious, the large shadow of a man pulled one of four branding irons from the fire behind him, plunging the red glowing iron into Nikoli’s stomach, making him scream in agony from searing pain. The hellknight known as Abaddon now branded him three more times, two up his chest and the final brand was pressed into his forehead. Nikoli’s screams of agony faded to whimpers.

The stench of melted flesh and burnt hair was heavy in the room. Abaddon blew a deafening whistling sound coming from his lips as the beast began dismembering Nikoli’s body piece by piece. First, the legs were torn off at the knee. Nikoli wailed in pain and horror as he watched the beast consume parts of him. As the beast pulled him apart, Abaddon continued to pray. Nikoli begged for help, pleading to be saved till the beast tore off his head with one big yank. With his spine still attached, blood dripped out of the beast’s mouth and down its chin. The beast laid down Nikoli’s head gently at Abaddon’s feet.

Abaddon, as well as the rest of the room, was now caked in blood and flesh. Standing over what was left of the body, the hellknight now waited patiently as the blood moon rose to its apex. With Nikoli’s body was now bathed in the soft blood moon’s glow, Abaddon stood over the altar and poured out red, black, and white sand from four orange glowing vials. All the flesh, blood, and bone slowly reformed his body that once more lay on the altar.

The black sand was not consumed as the red and white sand was. The black sand consumed him as it cooled, taking on the look of molten rock that attached itself to his muscle structure like armor. Fine hair-like cracks started forming all over his body, pulsing with an orange liquid, even forming in his eyes, leaving his pupils like fire. Abaddon stood over Nikoli’s body, raised his arm over Nikoli’s mouth, cut himself open and dripped his black blood onto his lips and into Nikoli’s mouth. Placing his right hand on the corpse’s chest, Abaddon began chanting over and over, increasing to a volume so high you would have blood running from your ears.

The earth shook violently under Abaddon’s feet, a hot white beam of light came pouring out, incinerating everything in the room but the marble. Nikoli, shot up off the altar and broke himself free from the chains, gasping for air, his lungs on fire, screaming uncontrollably, and cradling his head in his hands. Nikoli’s screaming faded over a short time, and now he sat silently, staring blankly out the window with the blood moon’s soft glow filling the room in crimson red.

*****

There are things worse than death. Nikoli’s heart gradually came to a stop, pulling him into a deep, dark, cold hopeless abyss, awaking to the sounds of snarling and growling, hastily feeling around in the darkness for a way to open this coffin.

Void of any light, the darkness consumed him, pouring out fear, desperation, pain, and hopelessness upon his soul. Muffled voices were talking, two with growling and snarling, speaking in a tongue he had never heard before. The bottom of the coffin he was in morphed into a molten pool of lava, consuming his body slowly, feeling as if his skin was melting off. He was screaming in absolute agony, making it through the bottom of the coffin, now falling down a long shaft, knowing that he was in the pit of hell.

Nikoli was descending quickly deeper into the pit, knowing that it was bottomless and with a never-ending thirst for torment. Nikoli impacted onto a hard surface with his face, his body crumpling on top of itself. He felt as if he had just shattered every bone in his body, but no, not in the hopeless pit of hell. Two sets of eyes appeared in front of him paralyzing him with fear. Growling like ravenous dogs that have not fed in a lifetime, those eyes bobbed back and forth, side to side, waiting for the perfect time to attack. One red set and one yellow, growling and snarling speaking in strange tongues.

Then came the moment when both demons attacked with a viciousness and ferocity that was and could only be from wickedness. The two demons writhed in the violent way that Nikoli was tortured, gutted, and dismembered, with his body feeling like it was on fire, bugs, worms and maggots crawling through his body, for what felt like an eternity.

Before all hope was lost, Nikoli cried out to God for mercy and forgiveness, repenting of his sins. God