I AM THE FIRE - Part 3 - "Eternity and Beyond"
It took me a short while to start operating again after Jessica’s death, but eventually, the call of duty had to be answered.
I honestly really wanted to blame Lucifer for that, but I just couldn’t. It was not his fault regardless of how I feel about it. Satan was way more powerful when unlocked than Lucifer could control.
The Beacon illuminated the purple Heaven sky, while I was sitting at the door of Elysia, drowned in thought.
I descended to the area, and there was a massive car crash. I could only see burnt metal and smoke rising, so I walked closer to see my new target. The glow of the spirit was pretty strong, making it easier for me to spot it.
Buried under some metal planks, was a kid, maybe nine years old. There were no visible wounds or hurt marks on him, though his spirit was shining bright to signify his death, which makes me think that he died because of the smoke.
I lifted the metal, and helped him up. “Hey!” he waved cheerfully as he stood on his feet.
“Hello, little one”.
“Do you know where my mommy is? She said she would buy me candy when we got to the store” that caught me off guard.
“Umm, I’m afraid I don’t know that” I did know where his mom was. I was looking at her getting lifted into the ambulance as we talked.
“Oh,” he turned to look at the ground, “But I want candy!” he tucked on my sleeve, staring at me with his kid innocence.
“I can get you candy, if you would come with me,”
“But my mommy says not to go anywhere with strangers” he backed off slightly.
I knelt down beside him, “Your mommy is pretty busy, she told me to get you the candy you asked for”.
“Okay!” He put his small hand in mine.
I held him up, and then unleashed my wings so that I could fly back up.
“WOW” he shouted, pointing at them.
I giggled, “You like them?”
“Yeah, they’re super cool!”
“Aw, thank you!” Not many people seem to like my wings, so that was pretty sweet.
We flew up towards Heaven, and his expression widened with awe and surprise the closer we got to the clouds. When we got to our destination, I put him down. He walked a little, staring at the stars and the golden towers.
I held his hand, and walked him gently to the door of Elysia. It opened on its own, as it always does, and this kid went running towards the candy pile that was near the fountain, shouting “candy! candy!”.
A smile found its way on my face, knowing that he wouldn’t have to ask about his mother anymore, or anyone else for that matter.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m starting to either become my old, cold, unempathetic self, or turn into the new Gabriel. Both are equally as horrible.
I don’t want to treat souls the same way I used to treat them years ago, but I also want to still be able to do my job to the fullest extent, and these two are starting to really contradict each other.
Maybe being Death itself requires no emotion whatsoever? Or maybe Father was right to take away my spirit, and strip me of the ability to feel anything? I could never know.
I strongly envy the rest of angels in Heaven for not having such a big internal conflict. Controlling rain or sending blessings isn’t as closely mentally exhausting as being the force that ends one’s life.
Regardless, death still has to exist, at least for now.
“You are a representation of the mortality constraint I have decreed upon humanity, and I shall say, you are rather a good one” Father’s voice echoed in my head.
“Thank you, Father”
“What holds thy mind, daughter?”
“It’s just…some thoughts that I can’t get out of my head.”
“Ah, well, the burden of being able to feel is quite strong.”
“Yes, and I can’t even convince myself that I don’t want it anymore.”
“Perhaps you do want it. It is just that you do not know how to deal with it.”
“I guess?”
He laughed, “Oh, child, none of this shall matter anyway. The end has neared. Maybe closer than you think.”
Michael’s voice cut through, “What is our beloved Supreme Archangel doing here?”
“Thinking, what about you?”
“I just came back from a job, now I kinda have nothing to do.”
We talked for a long while. He told me about some of his funniest moments with Lucifer, and how it became harder for him to understand his brother during the rebellion.
Then…
An ear-piercingly loud horn soared across all of Heaven. It did not have a direction to it, nor a set frequency. It simply was loud and remained loud.
All angels know what this Horn is too well. Its sound is sealed into everyone’s mind…it is the Horn of the End. A signal by Father to mark the end of humanity’s time on Earth.
The Horn blew harder and harder, shaking the ground slightly and sending gusting wind from every direction onto everyone’s faces. I don’t even remember getting down to Silver City, I just found myself there, surrounded by expressionless angels and rattling towers and walls.
While we do know what this Horn means, nobody knows what we are supposed to do when it is blown into, so everyone simply stood in rows across all of Silver City. Clueless and slightly scared. Michael and Raphael helped me set the rows by ranks, and then we just waited.
Father’s voice sounded way closer than it ever did, as if He had descended closer to us, *Judgement shall come upon humans. Today, I will reward the believers for what they have done, and I will punish the unrighteous. Those who disbelieved in Me and in the Divine shall abide by Hell forever and ever.”
Michael stepped forward, “What do you order, Lord?”
“Descend down to My creations, and send death and doom upon them. They shall know this Day to be great, for it is, and they shall be brought before Me for their judgement”.
“We heard, and we shall obey,” I stepped closer.
I turned to the rest, “You have heard the Lord. Descend down to the Earth and use what powers He gave you to execute His decree. Remember, none shall remain alive on Earth. Judgement is brought forth in Heaven, and it is coming for all.”
All of Heaven quickly unleashed their wings and flew down as fast as they could. Raphael and Michael led the whole thing, and I followed behind them.
“Did Lucifer hear the Horn?” Michael tapped my back.
“I”m sure he did.”
“Shouldn’t he be with us, then”
“No,” I sighed, “He has his own stuff to do.”
“Like what?”
“I’d lie if I said I knew.”
I watched the rows of angels descending down on the desert. Thousands upon thousands of pairs of wings stepping foot on the desert sand. A grand scene that I certainly have never seen.
It took a few minutes for the different angels to work their magic, but oh god was it worth the wait. The sky abruptly turned dark, and lightning flashed every corner of it. Thunder roared like it never did before, and the Earth was shaking hard enough to move the sand beneath our feet around.
Wind flew around us from every possible direction it could come from, and I’m pretty sure I saw the far glows of fires starting in the cities in the distance. Michael, Raphael and I walked to the nearest city, which I think was Vegas.
“Ah yes, Land of the Sins, bold of you to start here,” Raphael giggled.
“Oh, well, it’d be fun watching these fools realize that they’re about to witness Doom’s Day, literally” Michael followed up.
“Well, we better start, then,” I unlocked my wings, and levitated off the ground.
Michael and Raphael disappeared into the city center, and left me standing overhead. Vegas was trying to operate through all of this. Casino lights flickered, slot machines swayed a little with the wind, but were still operational. Humans however…these creatures were stumbling their way trying to escape anywhere. They don’t know that uhhh…there kind of is no escape.
A massive skyscraper hit the ground, “Really? How bad can your damn survival instincts get?” Michael called.
“That’s what you said about the bloody dinosaurs," I sighed, preparing myself.
One awesome thing about Gabriel’s spirit is that I have all the sorts of powers and punishments he was able to use, and that’s a very interesting set of powers, to say the least.
I closed my eyes, took a deep inhale, and then blew as hard as I could. A loud whistling sound hit, as wind quickly rushed in the direction I was blowing. I could see trees bending over, and cars flipping below due to the wind. I also saw a few uniformed casino owners flying around.
The wind I blew somehow managed to spin around, and create this massive tornado that pried a building out of the ground, and threw it a few miles away into the desert.
“Hey, watch this!” Raphael caught my attention.
His eyes glowed with a yellow-ish light, which quickly turned into a flash that made everything white for a few seconds. When my vision returned, a massive pit of fire was raging on the ground, eating anything in its path.
After about an hour or so, Vegas seemed to have been miserably defeated. I couldn’t hear anything except for the soft sounds of Raphael and Michael’s flocking wings, and I could only see ruin and destruction everywhere. It is safe to say that life has been sucked out of this city the same way tornados take dust out of the ground.
We flew away from what used to be Vegas. On our way, I spotted something weird, a red-ish glow that bypassed the thick mist, and seemed to be rising up at an accelerating pace. I wasn’t sure of what it was, though.
“Whoa, what is that?” Michael pointed at the glow.
“Pretty sure it’s just another building on fire,” Raphael replied, laughing.
One of the towns we passed by was submerged in complete chaos. A dust storm was uprooting some houses and light poles out of the ground, and burying others in sand. Lightning also set the nearby forests ablaze and illuminated the dark sky in a grand display.
In my almost-eternity time as an angel, I’ve seen all sorts of punishments being brought down on Earth. Plagues, droughts, earthquakes, however, I’ve never seen them combined until now. Knowing that today is the Day of Judgement does not make it any less great in my vision.
I should say by now, that it is not my duty to actually work with the angels in this destruction. As the Supreme Archangel of Heaven, my job is to make sure that Father’s orders are executed here flawlessly. So far, I think they very much are.
Upon our arrival near a coastal city, Michael quickly flew straight into the ocean close to it, which I believe the humans used to call “The Pacific” - The irony is lost on them, because today, it very much was not peaceful. Michael made that ocean rise about fifty-eight meters up, and then had completely submerged the city with it, causing buildings to break and shatter under the water pressure.
Complete cities were being wiped straight out of the Earth with a single lash of lightning, which is impressive, even for me. Eventually, I found a city which had a mountain looming over it, the mountain was called something like “Mount. Ordaine”, so, I got a fascinating idea. Michael saw that idea flash across my face, “I like your thinking,”
I flew over to the backside of the mountain, and gave it a little nudge with my index and middle finger. The mountain swayed forward following my nudge, making loud breaking noises as its roots broke free from the ground. It swayed to my direction one more time, before completely collapsing in the opposite direction and crushing that city under its wait. Massive rocks fell from the mountain and smashed straight into the city’s buildings, dropping them down in seconds.
In a matter of minutes, the city was completely submerged in dust from the falling rocks, and no standing building whatsoever remained safe from the flying rocks. “Oh, wow,” I muttered, watching the dust fly up, leaving rubble and absolute destruction below it.
Raphael was simply flashing cities into fires with his eyes, and Michael spent this entire time using his lightning staff to rage fire across huge forests. In the far horizon, I could see an angel slapping a building with her wing, only for the building to drop to the ground and shatter into pieces.
One thing didn’t make sense amidst all of this destruction, if I’m not the one taking the souls of the millions of humans who are dying every second…what is? I tried to look for any golden glows or markings, but found none, it is as if nobody is actually dying, or at least, not through me.
“Hey, Archangel!” A voice called from afar, “I need your help here!”
I flew to the direction of the sound, and there was Biatrix, pretty much the youngest angel amongst us, waving for me to come down to her, which I did. “What do you need me for?”
“I was trying to go into that building to destroy it, but I can’t, something keeps stopping me!” I could barely hear her over the howling wind.
The building seemed to be already ancient and falling, but when she tried to walk towards it, something invisible punched her straight in the face, dropping her to the ground. “You see?”
“Oh, yeah, I know what’s happening,” I walked towards that building, only to feel a wave of intense heat wash through me, which confirmed my thought.
I extended my hand towards the building, then clutched it into a fist, which made the air around the building pressure it so much that it blew away into dust, “Whoa!” I heard Biatrix mutter behind me. From under the rubble, emerged a red, fiery, red-winged demon. He was screaming around in what I think was an attempt to scare me away.
“Ohhh!” Biatrix shouted, “So this is what was preventing me?”
“Lower rank angels cannot exist in the same physical space as a demon, Father’s rules;” I explained, walking towards the thing.
“Who is thee?!” I shouted over the wind, looking straight at him.
“Leeee-roooo-booo-laaaah,” It replied, with a deep voice.
“Oh, damnit,’ I forgot that most demons speak Hellian, mainly because the ones I actually meet with can speak English just fine.
I recalled the ancient language from the back of my head, and replied, “Maaa-leee-deeee-dooooh”
The thing’s eyes turned to white, “Pooo-rooo-leeee-mooo”
“He apologizes for being here,” I translated to Biatrix. After that, the thing took off into the sky, until we couldn’t see it anymore.
Michael descended beside me, and I quickly tapped his shoulder, “Hey Michael, uh, do you, perhaps, have any clue as to why people aren’t dying?”
“What do you mean?” He turned to me with a confused face, “You weren’t taking people’s souls all of that while?”
“No, there are no glows or markings, which I can’t take souls without,”
“Oh, well, I’ve got no clue whatsoever. Maybe, something about Judgement Day is different?”
I raised my shoulders in disbelief, because at this point, that could very much be a valid point.
Regardless, I left Michael there and flew up immediately to continue watching over the destruction. There were pretty much no buildings left on the ground, and I was hearing nothing except for raging wildfires and the sounds of flocking angel wings.
“Earth’s Doom has been complete, My children” I heard Father call from above, “I assure you that none has remained in life.”
“Well, what do we do now?” Raphael said from behind me, putting feet on the ground and tucking his wings away.
More and more angels gathered from different areas of what used to be the Earth. We all were confused at this point, because our knowledge about Judgement Day stops right here. I started looking around, trying to find any clue about the next thing we have to do, but found nothing…except for that strange red glow still rising into the sky, now glowing while completely above the clouds.
“Wait a second,” I mumbled, as I quickly flew towards that glow, because I realized that there’s no way that glow can be what we think it is. There’s no building on fire now…
As the clouds disappeared under me, the red glow started getting clearer and clearer, but I still wasn’t able to make out what it was. At least, not until I got closer to it.
The source of the light was a ginormous, rocky, and fiery structure, being pulled up into the sky. There were chains tied to every single part of it, and some winged things on top were pulling those chains farther up in the sky. It took me a while to recognize it in its full form, but eventually I realized that what I was looking at, and what was being pulled up into the sky…was Hell itself.
The Kingdom of the Damned was being chained upwards by what I think now are demons. Its fires were still raging, and its lava rivers were still flowing just fine inside, but the whole thing was rising up towards Heaven.
“What the hell?!” I shouted, as I flew quickly towards the rising thing to try and understand what was happening. After a good minute of searching, I found him, Lucifer, standing on the top roof of the whole thing, and watching it rise while smirking jarringly.
“What on Earth do you think you’re doing?” I shouted at him from my position.
“Oh, hi. I was not prepared to meet you here,” He replied, mindlessly, not as if he was lifting his whole damn kingdom up into the horizon.
I came closer, and descended down on the roof of the rising domain, “What are you doing, Lucifer?”
“What does it look like I am doing, lady?” He replied in annoyance, “We are lifting Hell up to face Heaven for Judgement.”
“And who told you to do that?” I screamed back, trying to grab his collar.
He grabbed my hand, squeezed hard enough that it hurt, and his eyes turned to their dark red glow. He said to me in a deep voice, “Do not lay your hand on me, Death Angel.” Then he yanked my hand back, throwing my whole body backwards.
“I’m doing what Father told me to since before you were conceived into this life,” He turned to look at the rising chains, “Hell must face Heaven for Judgement to properly begin,”
“Oh,” I said, getting off the ground, “W-Well, I didn’t know that…”
“Clearly so,”
I cleaned my clothes from the dust, “Sorry, I was somewhat carried away by the scene,”
“Ah, don’t worry, I understand why you wouldn’t want to see me do this,” He turned to look at me.
“It wasn’t your fault,” My voice was barely above a whisper, “At least that’s what I’ve been telling myself,”
“It does not matter, regardless, I still was unable to control my own bloody kingdom to save a poor, innocent mortal,”
I took a step back, “Yeah, well, I guess that’s not an important matter right now,”
“No, it isn’t,” He replied, shifting back into his usual voice, “Speaking of which, Father has told me to tell you something, and I’m not sure of what it means, but I’ll tell you regardless,”
“What is it?” I asked, curiously.
“He said to tell you, and I quote:
‘The souls of those who art dead are not yet to be delivered to the domain of Judgement, not until I replace the Earth of another and the Heavens too
‘
”
“OHHH,” I shouted, understanding what that meant immediately.
“Huh, it does seem to be relevant to you, then,” Lucifer commented.
What Father meant by that was that all the people who were “killed” by our works of destruction are not yet dead, because He suspended their souls until the domain of Judgement is ready. I know now that the domain will only be ready when - apparently - Hell is facing Heaven, and when the Earth and the Heavens have been swapped for the Gathering Place.
“We’re here,” Lucifer shouted, waving at the demons to stop pulling.
Thousands of demons descended down, throwing their chains on the ground and standing in rows in front of Lucifer.
“But we’re not in Heaven yet,” I commented, watching the blue sky which definitely isn’t the sky of Heaven.
“We don’t have to pull all the way, Father will do the rest”
“F-Father?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
As I was waiting on an answer from Lucifer, I suddenly felt intense dizziness. It felt like my legs couldn’t support my weight anymore, and my eyes were darkening pretty fast. At the corner of my vision, I was able to see that the same was happening to Lucifer, but he seemed to be more familiar with that.
I dropped to the ground, and my eyes completely closed. It felt like I was asleep, but that couldn’t have been true. Angels don’t sleep, right?
I opened my eyes after I still don’t know how much time, and Lucifer was beside me, he had also woken up earlier than I did. I felt a strange sense of fatigue, like I had lifted the entire Heavens and Earth on my back for a whole day, and I could barely get up on my feet.
“Ugh,” I swayed around, trying to make out where I was. The first thing I saw was absolute nothingness, a flat desert that seems to be endless. When I turned right, I saw the usual golden towers and marble floors of Heaven in the far distance. I could see Elysia, Silver City, and Eden, but not in their usual order of floors…
Elysia and Silver City were in their own structure, but Eden wasn’t on top of them like usual, it was sitting beside them, and its doors weren’t chained anymore.
I felt a wave of heat wash over me as I stepped to the left by mistake. My eyes spotted the same strange glow I used to see back on Earth, which I knew that it was Hell. Unlike Heaven, Hell was completely unchanged, still burning, still fiery, and still absolutely horrifying.
Lucifer seemed to be standing quite firm, while I was swaying around from my tiredness, which made me ask him, “Do you not feel tired?”
“No, not even a bit, why?” He shot back.
“Daughter, look behind thee” Father’s voice called from above, as usual.
I turned behind me, and I gasped at the sight of human bodies spanning as much as the eye can see, they were completely covering the entire horizon. “Whoa!”
“It is you who has taken all of these souls, daughter, ” Father shocked me by His words.
“Me-Me? How?”
“Perhaps you do not remember any of it, but I assure you, it was through you that all of their humans transitioned into here,”
Suddenly, all of the fatigue I’ve been feeling since I have been here is explained. I’ve never thought that I’d be the one to reap the souls of the ENTIRETY of humanity…
Me and Lucifer flew up to see the humans, and the other angels followed us somehow. The humans were starting to slowly wake up, and stand on their feet, I could see that they were starting to slowly see what was going on.
“Oh no! Oh no!” I heard a man shout amongst the masses. He pointed at me, Lucifer, and the rest of the angel in absolute fear.
“Oh no, it can’t be now! We need more time!” Another one shouted, not as if they had an eternity already.
Humans were running around aimlessly, screaming, and crying when they realized that this is the Day they’ve been long waiting for, or dreading. Michael, Lucifer, and I knew that we couldn’t keep them like that.
“Remain in rows!” Michael shouted at the humans in a voice that shook the ground beneath us, “There will be no escape to anywhere, today!”
Lucifer climbed up with his wings, and then came down fast, slamming into the ground and making it enough to make lines of fire burst out of it, splitting the humans into proper rows, “Should one of you cross these lines, Hell will be their abode,”
At that time, the door of Eden swung open, and a smooth wind came out of it, while its trumpets started playing slowly in the background. Hell was already open, and bright sparks were coming out of it.
Lucifer and I flew to the side, while the rest of the angels continued circling around the human masses to assert order. “So, how have you been since our last meeting?” Lucifer asked me, tapping my shoulder.
“Do you really think this is a good time to ask that?”
“Judgement is gonna go on for a very long time, so unless you wanna watch every single soul be judged with full attention, we’re gonna have to pass the time a little;” He replied, unbothered.
I sighed, “Well, yeah, I’ve been good, just a little thinking too much.”
“Oh, well, I’d guess I can imagine why.”
“Not what you think,” I said, crossing my hands, “The matter is way deeper than that,”
“Really? Then, by all means, enlighten me,” Lucifer giggled.
“It’s just,” I struggled to get the words out, “Nevermind, you won’t get it;”
“Right, I won’t get it, understood” He replied, sarcastically.
In that moment, two demons dragged a guy in front of us to Hell with shackles and chains. They just threw him into one of the fiery pits and left him there while he screamed and thrashed. “What did he even do?” I asked Lucifer, turning to him.
“Hypocrisy. Showed devotion to Father but hid something else,” He replied, almost automatically.
“How do you know? It’s not like you’ve been watching Judgement attentively.”
He laughed, “It is not like I’m the bloody Overlord of Hell and I can figure out what anyone did the second they’re thrown here.”
Then suddenly, Father’s voice came in heavy, “Now for the great judgement to be. The Judgement of that who calls himself My nemesis.”
“Oh,” Lucifer commented, “This will be fun,”
“Who is Father talking about?” I asked him, curiously.
“Satan,” He then turned to his demons, “Luca, Milan, drag him before the rows!”
“Sir, yes, sir!” Luca replied, flying down to the Woe.
A second later, Luca and Milan flew up from the Woe, dragging the same massive chains that Satan broke years ago. Now, Satan was chained properly and being dragged up, forward, and in front of the rows of humans.
At that moment, a bright flash blinded everyone, followed by a loud thundering sound that made the dust on the ground rise. When the light settled, two bright golden lightning bolts were just frozen in front of Satan. They were shining, and also warm enough that I could feel the heat from miles away.
“Wow, my Lord,” Lucifer muttered under his breath, “I haven’t seen those since the Creation Era!”
I turned to him, “What do you mean? What are those?”
“The Empyreal Bolts!” He replied with such awe in his voice, “This is the kind of lightning Father Himself can use. A single bolt of those can burn the Heavens and the Earth into gas in a mere second.”
“What?” I replied, confused, “I’ve never seen an angel be able to do this,”
“We’re only allowed earthly lightning, which flashes and then vanishes, and also is only so hot. The Empyreal Bolts are specific to Father Himself, they’re inexplicably strong.”
“Ah yes, the old fist of iron weapons, right?” Satan said, with his voice that makes me want to smack him in the face.
Lucifer held me back from walking towards Satan, “Not your job, just watch.”, so, I walked back besides him, watching the chained Satan stare into the Empyreal Bolts as they shine and burn bright.
“Have you done anything for which I must spare you today, Satan?” Father asked him,
“I know not of such a thing,” Satan replied, with a slight change in his voice, “It is by all means that I must be tried properly,”
“Know you of anyone who must save you? Or be a witness that you have done any good?”
Satan’s voice was shaking,“No,”
“What do you desire to say to Me and to the others before your judgement?”
Satan turned to the humans, “You should know for certain, that today, it had been revealed that neither did you nor did I have the right to disobey your Father in His world, while being His creation, and while living by His order. You knew that there was a trial, and there would be a judgement, yet you answered my call of temptation and committed all sorts of sins. So, today, I will not help you, and neither will you help me. Your Father’s rule is as just as it may be, and I will not deny it and neither can you.”
“Oof,” Lucifer gasped, “Such a terrible, nefarious, and horrifying thing to have the incarnation of all evils pull the rug from under you when you most need him!”
“He kind of got a point, though,” I said, wrapping my hand around Lucifer.
“Well, yeah, he did tell me in a moment of weakness that he was planning to say all of this on the Day of Judgement.”
“I guess that’d make sense, he’s a creation too,” I giggled.
“Behold, My creation” Father called with an extremely loud voice.
The Empyreal Bolts started making this loud roaring sound, as if they were awaiting this exact moment, and then, in a single flash of lightning which was brighter than the sun and louder than normal angelic lightning, Satan disappeared from in front of us. The only thing left of him was a single stray red feather, which fell on the ground, unbothered.
No violent screams, no begging, no denial speech. He simply went out on his own terms. I’m not exactly sure if he even lost at this point.
“What?”, “How?”, “Why is he not going to help us?” The humans started wondering and asking all sorts of questions. They’re utterly surprised that the one creature who led them astray on the straight path won’t help them now that they’re being held accountable for their clear error.
Judgement carried on the rest of humanity. Some of them getting dragged to the pits of Hell, and others being led to Eden in massive convoys by angels. It took a very long while which I cannot possibly describe in words. However, some of these judgments were pretty interesting, and surprising even.
Michael called out the name of a man for judgement, “Arthur Millard, son of John and Marsha Millard, come forward before the Lord!”
The man was white, slightly short, probably fifty-three years old. He walked forward with such confidence, as if he knew what he was walking into. I’m sure as hell he did not.
As expected, the man’s book which recorded all of his deeds in his lifespan on Earth was thrown to him by one of the angels, and he caught it with his left hand. He opened and read through it, and as he flipped through the pages, his expression worsened and got less and less confident.
“What is wrong with this book?” I heard him whisper, “Why does it record every single damn thing?”
“Ah yes,” Lucifer laughed, “It is not like he was told that there will be angels recording everything he does,”
“They seem to always forget that part,” I replied.
“Is everything present in the book correct?” Father asked him, clearly.
“Y-Yes,” He stuttered, “But-but-but,”
Father interrupted him, “Did I wrong you in any way?”
“No, it’s just-just that…”
“Did My angels wrong you in any way?” Father continued asking.
“No,”
“Then what is your surprise about?”
“I was-was a good person, my Lord, I always went to church and-and I prayed and…”
“Was that all for me?” Father’s tone changed.
The man started stumbling really hard, like he was trying to say something but physically was unable to. It was like his mouth simply refused to speak those words.
“Y-y-y-y…no! They were not!” He kneeled on the ground, crying, “I was only there because I was told to!”
“You may not lie to me today,” Father explained, “I have created you and I am able to force you to say the truth however I like!”
“Luca!” Lucifer called out. Luca then quickly went to the man, yanked him with a massive chain, then dragged to one of the bottom pits of Hell, throwing him in.
Michael called out another name, “Veronica Parker, daughter of Jimmy Parker and Rachel Parker, come before the Lord!”
A young woman emerged from between the masses, shaking and trembling as she made her way through the rows and in the judgement area.
“Wait, don’t humans reuse names a lot? I mean, isn’t there like a lot of people named ‘Veronica Parker’ among the masses who have the same parent names?” I asked Lucifer, curiously.
“Yeah, but when Michael calls a name, the specific humans meant by it simply know that they’re the ones meant by that call,” He replied, waving his hands around.
Raphael quickly flew on top of her and threw her book, which she caught with her right hand, and also opened it and read through it. The same expression that was on Arthur’s face started appearing on her face as she flipped through the pages.
“What the…” She mumbled, tearing up at the sight of those pages.
Father asked her His usual questions, and it honestly was seeming like she was gonna have something similar to Arthur’s treatment, until Father said something unusual.
“Do you remember this date?” The dust from the ground rose up, and formed something that looked like writing, “05/07/2036”.
“N-No, I don’t.” She stammered, wiping her tears.
Father addressed the angels, “Do you remember that date?”
Her appointed recorder angel denied remembering anything that happened on that date, so Father explained, “On that day, you, Veronica Parker, were walking by a narrow street near your own house. You found two stray kittens, shivering in the cold breeze. You held both kittens up, sheltered them, fed them, and took care of them for years and years.”
Everyone held their breath, as Father continued, “Even when your landlord forbade hosting pets in the building, you chose to move out of that building completely over letting those kittens go back on the streets.”
The appointed angel gasped, “F-Father, I do not remember any of this happening~”
“Worry not,” Father cut him off, “It was I who made you forget that event, for it was of My will to hide that deed for her until the Day of Recompense.”
“S-So?” Veronica asked, with a wild expression on her face.
“For that, you shall abide by Heaven, where you will remain, forever and ever!”
She gasped, “R-R-R−Really?”
I called out, “Biatrix, Michael!” . They quickly descended down beside her, taking her by her hand and walking her to Eden in front of the rows.
After that, Father spoke to me. I know for a fact that nobody heard that other than me because His voice was closer than usual, “Daughter, I command you to tell My angels to carry the next soul before Me.”
Odd, but I’m not in a position to question Father’s judgement. The last angel who did that did not end too well. So, I waved for Michael to come to me, and told him, “I need you and Raphael to personally carry the next soul to the judgement area,”
“Why?” He asked in confusion.
“Don’t ask questions, just carry them,”
He flew back, waved Raphael over. Both of them flew to their stand to check who the next soul is. The name they called made my hair creep up, “Jessica Martinez, you are being brought before the Lord!”
Lucifer and I stumbled back, as Michael and Raphael flew to the east side, and they grabbed someone and brought them to the judgement area. We quickly flew there to check it out, and sure enough, it actually was Jessica.
I hugged her the instant I saw her, “Oh my God! It’s been so long!”
“What do you mean?” She asked, confused, “It’s been only like week,”
I remembered how humans, righteous ones at least, don’t feel the long wait of the Day of Judgement, “Oh, r-r-r-right, you know, you didn’t feel it but it’s been years!”
She pulled back slowly, “Years? How? It’s literally only been a week,” Then she thought about it for a moment, “Nevermind, I guess you’re right, “
Lucifer was standing behind me, in utter shock, he couldn’t speak from the weight of the situation. “I-I-I…”
“Oh, Lucifer, you’re here too!” Jessica commented when she saw him.
“Y-Y-Yeah, I am here, too, I guess”,
We pulled away when judgement started, but we didn’t expect it to be so fast. Father simply started calling what seemed to be random names from the masses, and said spirits would just come forth to the judgement area.
“That’s…unusual” Lucifer commented.
Father asked each of the spirits He called, “Do you know this woman?” Clearly referring to Jessica.
Strangely enough, each of them knew her by name, and each of them kept saying that she is the reason why they are alive. When all of the spirits were asked, Father finally revealed what He was doing.
“Daughter,” He addressed Jessica, “Do you remember how you did die?”
“No, not exactly,” She replied, slightly shaking.
Dust rose up again from the ground, and it seemed to be forming figures. A dust version of Jessica appeared, and also one that looks like me and another one for Lucifer. Then, a larger blob of dust rose up and took on the form of a massive reptile-like creature fallen on the ground - Satan.
“Oh,” Lucifer said, like he finally cracked a code, “OHH!”
“What?” I asked him.
He turned to me, “You really don’t know? The dreaded bloody event where you, Jessica, Satan, and I were present? In Hell?”
“Ah,” I finally understood, “That’s a representation of our fight with Satan?”
“Exactly,”
The dust version of Jessica, like the real one, started slowly walking towards the Satan one. “And you, sweet little one…Do you not feel like being here is your choice?” Satan said, reminding me of that damn, cursed memory.
“Well, maybe,” The dust version of Jessica said.
Satan continued, “They brought you here, to Hell, against your will, did they not?”
Lucifer’s eyes were dark red at the sight of this scene being replayed in front of us, and his teeth were grinding. I wasn’t any less unpleased to see it.
“Kind of,” Dust-Jessica replied to him.
“I don’t like what I see,” Lucifer said through his locked teeth.
“Neither do I,” I replied, “It’s just a replay, though,”
The scene carried out until its very tragic end, which was Jessica’s death. Lucifer and I were effectively holding back tears at this point, but then Father broke the silence:
“Do you know any of these spirits?” He was addressing Jessica, and clearly talking about the spirits He called the judgement area.
“No,”
One of the spirits descended down beside Jessica, and spoke with a very eerie voice, “I’m Martha Lester,” She introduced herself.
“On the day you died,” Martha continued explaining, “I was so submerged in Satan’s influence that I nearly killed my one and only son, but because of your sacrifice, I was able to stop,”
“W-What?” Jessica asked her, “But I literally couldn’t do anything, I died!”
Father replied to her, “When you died, your sacrifice was so strong, so pure, and so selfless, that the influence of Satan was stopped immediately after it. You have saved all of these spirits from that evil power, and lost your life in the process.”
“What does that mean?” Jessica asked, panting.
“It means,” I walked toward her, “That you are going to remain in Heaven, forever!”
I hugged her out of pure joy, nearly crying at knowing that after all, we weren’t really a cause for her eternal damnation.
Lucifer kept simply watching from the back, eyes wide with an expression I could not make out. He walked forward to Jessica, “I…I’m sorry,”
“For what?” She let go of me, looking at him with curious eyes.
He sighed, “I promised that I would protect you in Hell, and I was responsible to keep that promise whatever happened, but I couldn’t,”
“Well,” She faced him, “I never really blamed you, it was more of a thing that was out of your control,”
“No,” His voice cracked, “Hell is my domain, I am supposed to be the one in control there. I can’t accept that someone has died there under MY bloody watch!”
“Don’t blame yourself for it,” I put my hand on his shoulder, “We make mistakes, we aren’t perfect like Father, neither are we infallible like Him.”
“Biatrix,” I called, and pointed at Jessica. Biatrix came and carried her on her wings to Eden.
I looked back at the massive desert, and it was empty. All of the human masses were judged and done with, we were unsure of what was going to happen next.
Another flash of lightning, and the Empyreal Bolts were back on stage, “Forward, Semael,” Father called.
“Here we go,” Lucifer sighed, and walked toward the bolts, unleashing his red fiery wings.
“What the~” I whispered to myself.
“My child,” Father said, slowly, “You know how long has the world waited for this moment?”
Lucifer replied, “Too damn long, Father,”
Michael descended down beside me, “The hell is happening right now,”
“Vooooookh! Viiiiik,” Lucifer said, in Hellian, “AlÞer! AlÞer! ViooÞeer!”
I looked behind me to the demons. All of their eyes turned flat white, even the midranking ones like Luca and Milan. They flew to where Lucifer was standing, and sat on their knees in front of him.
Lucifer turned to face the judgement area, and sat on his knees too.
“You rebelled against Me, denied My decree, disobeyed Me. How do you defend yourself?” Father asked Lucifer, while the Empyreal bolts raged in front of him.
“I do not,” Lucifer replied, with a firm tone, “I made a mistake, that I cannot deny,”
Father continued asking, “And for what? Glory? Wealth? Dominion? What of those did you gain?”
Lucifer sighed, “None, I simply believed that I was right while I was not,”
The Empyreal Bolts started roaring loudly when Lucifer said that, “Then for what reason did you disobey Me, Semael?!” Father said, in a voice I’ve never heard before.
“I did not agree with You, Father!” Lucifer snapped back, and got up on his feet.
Luca, Milan, and the rest of demons stayed on their knees, while he walked toward the Bolts, “I didn’t understand why you kept humanity EVEN after what Noah said! I could not possibly stand them!“
The Bolts reflashed again in front of him, “So your choice was to try and override My will?”
“My choice was to do what I thought was right!” Lucifer stepped forward.
“You thought what I did was wrong, and that you could have been wiser than Me?”
Lucifer didn’t respond to that. He kept just staring ahead, with the flames in his eyes slowly crackling and reflecting the glow of the Bolts. I noticed Luca slowly opening his eyes, and looking at the silent Lucifer with such confusion.
“Why is he not responding?” I heard one of the Midranking demons whisper. I was just as confused as to why Lucifer wasn’t responding, when he usually had a reply to all questions.
“Let Me answer that one for you, Semael,” Father interrupted the silence, making the Bolts roar less loudly, “You do not know,”
Lucifer stayed silent, and just gave a faint nod.
Although Satan had just been executed with the same Bolts that are standing in front of Lucifer right now, I could have sworn that I heard his voice, whispering indistinguishable words in the silence.
Another minute of full, deadpan silence went by. Even the demons stopped the whispers after a while. “You know something, son?” Father broke the silence.
“What?” Lucifer asked, staring at the ground.
“I have always known that you would try to betray Me,”
“Nothing’s new about that. You’re All-Knowing, Father,”
“But do you know why I haven’t destroyed you yet? Just like Satan?” Father kind of shocked me with that question. It suddenly occurred to me: wouldn’t it be more convenient for Father to destroy Lucifer, then to keep around?
“I always figured you kept me as an example,” Lucifer replied, voice still firm, “Something for the entirety of Hell, Heaven, and humanity to know NOT to be like,”
Father laughed, “Always sharp, like I intended you to be,”
I haven’t heard Father laugh for a very long time, yet here He is, laughing at Lucifer’s reply. The Bolts slowly faded away, before completely disappearing from the scene.
“For what it’s worth,” Father said, calmly, “You were right, given the knowledge you had”
“I-I-I was?”
“Indeed. You were.”
A beam of light appeared on top of Lucifer, and he stared at it with awe in his eyes. Then, he started loudly grunting and moaning while levitating into the light. “What the hell is happening to him?” Michael rushed towards me, pointing at Lucifer.
“I don’t~” Michael didn’t hear the full sentence and tried bolting straight toward Lucifer to maybe help him. I unleashed my wings so fast that I think I dislocated a shoulder, I flew to Michael and pushed him away from Lucifer.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” I shouted, standing up.
Michael just stood up, and didn’t reply to my question. I looked back at Lucifer, and there was a weird red smoke coming out of him and into the white light, “What the?” I whispered to myself.
“That red smoke,” Raphael landed beside me, staring at Lucifer, “I recognize it,”
“Huh?” I turned to him in confusion.
“It’s Lucifer’s Hellfire Spirit, I watched him absorb it when I used to deliver messages from Father to him in Hell,”
“Why is it coming out now?” I asked, frowning.
I turned to Michael, in hope of an answer, and I realized that he was starting to tear up. “M-Michael? What’s up with you, buddy?”
His voice was cracking, but still firm, “When Lucifer was cast out, I watched Father take away his angelic powers with my own eyes, and I also saw the Hellfire Spirit take its place when I used to visit him in Hell. I always thought the latter would be my brother’s doom,”
“What is happening to him, though?”
He wiped his tears with the back of his hand, “If what I think is correct, perhaps Semael is being…forgiven?”
Raphael physically pulled back at the sound of that, “That can’t be! Father said that he would never~”
The sound of Lucifer falling and hitting the ground loudly interrupted Raphael. The beam of light was gone, and Lucifer was unconscious on the sandy ground.
I ran to Lucifer, and I could hear Raphael and Michael’s footsteps behind me. “Lucifer! I shouted, sliding to his side,”
I tried shaking him awake, but he didn’t open his eyes or say anything for a solid while. Raphael and Michael tried helping but without any use. “Step aside,” Father interrupted us with a calm voice.
I stood up, and started walking back, and so did everyone else. Raphael, Michael, and I watched from behind as Lucifer slowly regained his consciousness and stood up. He was scratching the back of his hands while staring at the ground.
“What the hell~” I heard him murmur, while staring at the back of his hands. He then limped away to us, with a confused expression on his face. “I feel…different. What happened?”
“You were passed out and-and-and,” I struggled to get the rest of the words out. Michael interrupted me, stepping towards his twin, “Brother…I think, you were forgiven,”
“What?” Lucifer snapped back at Michael, “What nonsense are you trying to pull off on me right now?”
“When you passed out,” Raphael pulled Lucifer back, “Strange red smoke came out of you, and then there was like a beam of light. I’m not sure what exactly went down, however, I know your Hellfire Spirit when I see it,”
“You people can’t be serious!” Lucifer smiled, thinking we were joking, “There is simply no way my Father would have~”
“I have,” Father interrupted him, “I have forgiven you, Sameal,”
“How?! You told me there was no way for me to be redeemed after what I had done?!”
“When I cast you out of Heaven, I told you that there was no way for you to be redeemed as long as time and space were in flow,”
Lucifer’s eyes widened with recognition, “That’s…correct,”
“Neither are currently in flow,”
Lucifer then looked at his hands again. His eyes turned completely white, just like every other Archangel’s eyes do when their powers are enabled. “What?” I shouted, staring at him, “How is this possible?”
Then, Lucifer let out his wings. They were glowing white, and I could feel the Archangelic presence radiating from his body.
“You are now the Archangel of Serenity. Just like you were before you were cast out,” Father said with a surreal voice that shook the ground.
“I haven’t felt this power in…eternity,” Lucifer said, putting his wings back.
Michael bolted from my right, and quickly hugged Lucifer tightly while sobbing, “I miss you, brother!”.
I felt a tear rolling down my cheek while watching Lucifer and Michael hugging like they never did for eternity. It somehow felt like a moment of relief from my eternal conflict between my job and newly acquired emotions.
Lucifer flew up, and then headed towards Hell. Its fires were reflecting from his eyes, “People of Hell, upcoming is eternity without death!”
Nobody replied to him. Nobody could. I waved Michael over, and instructed him to do the same for the people of Heaven. He did, and everyone in Eden started cheering and clapping at his words.
Lucifer then came in front of me, and descended, staring me in the eye while smiling. “I think I owe you gratitude. Thank you, Mavet!”
“For what?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“Without you, I don’t think I would ever have reached the realization that led me to my forgiveness, I would still have been bitter, hateful, and in utter spite of the people of Heaven,””
“Awww,” I couldn’t hold back at how sweet that sounded. I found myself walking towards Lucifer while everybody looked at me in such shock. Then, I threw myself at him and hugged him as tight as I could.
“I love you, Semael,”