"So, are you the Enoch, the one from the Bible?" Rachel asked. "My dad was always reading the verses about him from Genesis: 'And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him.' That guy?"
"You mean Metatron?" Enoch laughed. "No, I'm not him."
"Who?" Rachel asked. "I was talking about..."
"...About Enoch the son of Jared and father of Methuselah," Enoch finished. "That is Metatron. He was a human widower who got remarried to one of God's daughters. He got taken up to Heaven, became an angel, and took the name Metatron. Good thing, too! It makes life waaaaay less confusing for me."
"Why were you both named Enoch?" Rachel asked.
"It was an insanely common name back then," Enoch shrugged, "just like how every other human woman seems to be named 'Jessica' these days. Cain the son of Adam named his son Enoch as well."
"It really is confusing, isn't it?" Lilith smiled. "I have a son AND a stepson both named Enoch."
"Maybe you'll meet Metatron someday," said Lucifer. "He's one of God's closest advisors along with Sandalphon (formerly the human prophet Elijah). Remeila's pretty good friends with him and Sandalphon, and those two are always visiting Penemue's archives to inform their advice."
"What were you about Dis, by the way?" Rachel asked Enoch.
"I'll show you," Enoch said. "Follow me."
Enoch led Rachel to a very tall viewing tower in the garden. He ascended it, Rachel following close behind. From the top, Rachel had a good view of what looked like a colossal city built on the entirety of a mountain. Toward the top were beautiful villas, temples, theaters, and plazas where well-dressed demons strolled happily among the shining obsidian buildings. But the lower down Rachel looked, the uglier and more wretched things looked. At the bottom, rickety timber-frame buildings with straw-thatched roofs loomed crookedly over a maze of narrow streets filled with garbage and dung, and the lowest-ranked demons and human slaves were dressed in rags and bony from lack of food It looked just like a stereotypical Medieval city to Rachel..
"There it is, the City of Dis," Enoch said bitterly. "It's not so bad in the upper levels, but the lower levels are a blight on the cosmos. Bring a nose plug if you go down there; it stinks of brimstone."
"That's sulfur, right?" said Rachel.
"Yes, and it smells like rotten eggs," said Enoch. "Unfortunately, it keeps the beasts of Hell's wilderness out of the city, so they have it all over the poorly policed lower levels for safety purposes."
"Why is it so much of a mess down there?" asked Rachel. "Why does it look like something out of The Witcher crossed with Monty Python and the Holy Grail?"
"It's been devastated twice," Enoch said glumly. "During the second phase of the rebellion, the one after Hell had been colonized by us, Michael and Kushiel led a massive army of angelic warriors to capture the city. After six months of devastating siege warfare, Dis surrendered. Michael wanted to treat us with mercy, but Kushiel insisted on brutally sacking and pillaging the captured city. Much of Dis was reduced to rubble, and the rebuilding has been slow. And then there's the second time we were sacked!"
"What happened then?" asked Rachel.
"Perhaps you've heard that the Iron Knights have never made it past the Third Circle," said Enoch. "Well, what we mean by that is that they've never made it deeper since their first invasion. In 1196, Richard the Lionheart led a massive force of Iron Knights into Hell with the intention of killing my father and as many other demons as he could. We were taken completely by surprise; we had not been invaded or even raided since the peace treaty was signed. The Iron Knight army made it all the way to Dis and undid most of our reconstruction efforts with their attack. We eventually beat them back, but Richard the Lionheart somehow escaped. We think he had a supernatural patron who spirited him back to Earth. I hear he was eventually killed by a crossbow bolt while besieging a French nobleman in 1199. Good riddance!"
"It's a shame all that happened to Dis," Rachel sighed.
"The nobles of the court naturally insisted that the upper levels get priority in reconstruction," Enoch sneered. "Some of them are nearly as despicable as Kushiel and Richard, I swear! Meanwhile, 'ordinary' demons have to live like Medieval peasants. Say what you will, about God, but He's managed to make sure the glories of Heaven are available to ALL of its inhabitants, nut just the privileged few."
"I can tell you want to fix this," said Rachel.
"Why shouldn't I?" Enoch asked. "Idealism's in my blood. My dad gave humans free will. My brother Charon ended the war between Heaven and Hell with nothing but love. Besides, I've traveled a lot. I've seen Heaven and Purgatory alike while visiting with Charon and Remeila, and I've been all over Earth in search of a woman even half as amazing as Esther Goldberg. I've seen what both humans and angels can do in urban planning, and it sickens me to see my own civilization fall so far behind. Mom always tells me to do something to make things better, but I don't even know where to start." Enoch slumped his muscular red shoulders and sighed.
"There's always a way, Enoch," Rachel said. "But you'll need help, and not just from other demons. The thing to do is reach out to Heaven and ask them to lend the talents of their best and brightest in the restoration."
Enoch raised an eyebrow. "Could that ever happen? Peace treaty or no peace treaty, many angels and demons prefer to have as little to do with each other as possible."
"God and Lucifer don't feel that way," Rachel said. "Maisy says they're really fond of each other."
"Who's Maisy?" asked Enoch.
"That's what Miasma called herself on Earth," said Rachel. "She actually really likes it and still goes by it around me."
"Oh," Enoch smiled. "Anyway, God and and Lucifer may rule their realms, but they can't just ignore their royal courts, which are filled with ancient angels and demons who still remember the rebellion. Who can get them to agree to such a plan?"
"I could always try," said Rachel. "I have a college degree in communication."
Enoch laughed. "I like your confidence, Rachel. Alright, feel free to try that sometime. I can't promise you success against those old fossils, of course. We should probably get back to my parents now." With that, the two of them climbed down the stairs of the viewing tower and returned to the table.