The fifth heaven was silent.
That was the first thing Enoch noticed. In every other heaven, there had been song — ceaseless, layered, beautiful. Here, nothing. A vast emptiness of sound.
And then he saw them. The Grigori.
Countless soldiers, human in appearance but far larger than the greatest giants. Their faces were withered. Their mouths sealed in perpetual silence. No hymns. No worship. No service of any kind on the entire fifth heaven — just this army of enormous, haggard beings standing in mute desolation.
"Why do they look so withered?" Enoch asked. "Why are their faces so melancholy? Why is there no service here?"
His guides answered: "These are the Grigori — the Watchers — who rejected the Lord of Light along with their prince, Satanael. After them came those who are imprisoned in the great darkness of the second heaven. Three of the Grigori descended from God's throne to the earth, to the place called Hermon. They broke their vows on that mountain's shoulder. They saw the daughters of men and desired them. They took human wives and corrupted the earth with their deeds. From these unions came the giants — monstrous beings of enormous size and terrible enmity."
God had judged them with a great judgment. Now the Grigori who remained in heaven wept for their fallen brothers, knowing that final punishment awaited them all on the great day of reckoning.
Enoch spoke directly to them: "I saw your brothers. I saw their torment. I prayed for them, but the Lord has condemned them beneath the earth until heaven and earth come to an end."
Then he challenged them: "Why do you stand idle? Why have you not resumed your service before God's face? Do you want to anger your Lord completely?"
The Grigori listened. Something stirred in them — some remnant of what they had once been. They spoke to the four ranks of angels in heaven. Four trumpets sounded together with a tremendous blast. And the Grigori broke their silence at last — singing with one voice, their song rising before God pitifully and desperately, the hymn of those who had nearly forgotten how to worship.