against him, a place where it was possible to forget a God that had taken so much.
But there was something in the dirt.
A corruption of perfection, a cancer hidden beneath layers of chaste dirt, rock, and vegetation. A reminder that faultlessness did not exist and that the transgressions perpetrated against him were not so easily wiped away.
Simeon let the tainted earth fall back to the ground. “There is a sickness here,” he said aloud.
Behind him, Satquiel chuckled. “Of that you are mistaken. Life here is in its purest state, fresh from the mind of the Creator Himself.”
Simeon stood, scrutinizing his surroundings. He had been so overwhelmed by the supposed perfection of it all that he hadn’t noticed it at first. “Rot,” he said to Satquiel, motioning toward the lush vegetation. “Look at the leaves, the stems, the very flowers.”
Indeed, there were brown spots on many of the growths, some having already turned to black. On a nearby vine, a fat pod had grown, and Simeon reached out, plucking it from the vine. He turned toward the angel, holding it out.
“Pregnant with life,” the angel said, a superior smile on his face.
Simeon squeezed the pod between his forefinger and thumb, and a thick, foul-smelling ooze flowed out and over his hand. “‘Pregnant with rot’ is more like it.”
Satquiel seemed surprised, taking the pod from him and examining it carefully.
But Simeon was already on the move, noticing that the path of decay seemed to be more distinct in one particular direction. He pushed his way through the thick underbrush, keeping his eyes on the blemishes and stains of rot, finally ending up on the edge of a grove of sorts, a tree with bark of an unusual golden color at its center.
“Isn’t that lovely,” Simeon said, as he stared at the impressive growth.
There was movement behind him, and he turned to see that Satquiel had joined him but had dropped to one knee as he stared at the tree before them.
For a moment Simeon didn’t understand, but, looking back to the tree, it was obvious. “The Tree of Knowledge,” the forever man whispered.
He stepped from the overgrowth, toward the tree—and was immediately stopped as a hand like steel took hold of his arm.
“It is forbidden,” Satquiel said with a threatening snarl, his eyes leaking tiny sparks of fire.
Simeon glared at the angel. “You forget who is in control here,” he said, turning Solomon’s ring on his right hand.
Satquiel released his hold with a hiss.
“Very little is forbidden to me,” he reminded the angel as he turned his attentions back to the tree. “It would be wise for you to remember that.”
He focused on the fruit hanging from the branches of the tree, imagining what it must have been like for the first daughter, Eve. But the fruit appeared to be suffering as the Garden itself did, swollen with rot, the skin splitting in places to release a viscous juice that rained to the ground.
As he stepped closer to the tree, he caught sight of something moving just beneath the tainted earth that surrounded it. At first he thought it a trick of his eyes, but closer inspection proved there was indeed something there. Call it some sort of sixth sense, honed over the countless millennia he had spent in a dangerous world, but Simeon knew that it would not be wise to tread upon that ground.
He reached down and picked up a small, smooth stone, tossing it onto the dirt at the base of the tree. Something that looked like multiple worms shot up from below and dragged the stone down.
Simeon’s heart quickened with excitement.
Is it possible I’ve discovered the source of the Garden’s illness?
“Satquiel,” Simeon called, keeping his eyes on the churning patches of earth.
“Yes?”
“Do you have any idea what that is?”
“I don’t,” the archangel replied.
“Hmm,” Simeon commented, reaching up to stroke his chin. “I would like to know.”
“What would you have me do?”
“Go there,” Simeon said, pointing to the mound of black earth. “Walk upon the ground. I’m curious.”
He could see that Satquiel was trying to defy him, fighting against the power of Solomon’s ring, but it was all for naught. The magick within the ring was too strong.
The archangel haltingly made his way past Simeon, and as soon as his foot landed on the loose earth beneath the Tree of Knowledge, it triggered the most explosive of reactions. It was as if some sort of trap had been sprung, the ground encircling the angel erupting as things the likes