Pride Cometh...

He paced back and forth in front of a long crystalline desk. The globes of silver light floating near the ceiling played upon his jet plated armor. A silver-colored metal bordered the fringes of each tier of plates as they gave way to the next. It was beautiful metalwork, indeed. But it was not his armor that made other beings stare at him with dumbstruck gaze – it was his perfect physical form. His dark, straight hair hung to just above his shoulders and slightly covered his forehead as it eclipsed half of his right eye. The eyes set in his head were as black jewels with silver threads woven here and there. His long, straight nose poked slightly over his pale lips; lips that were only slightly darker than the rest of his skin. That skin of his was so white that it seemed ethereal in nature, just like his eight ghostly wings. His pacing stopped. He looked at an audience of beings much like himself, but with only one wing on each shoulder.

“Speak!”

The angel shouted, breaking the silence and shattering the crystalline table before him. The four pairs of wings on his back quivered with light, pulsing from ethereal to blinding and back again. Twinkling stars of bluish silver light burned in the circlet that floated above his head. The other immortals shot nervous glances back and forth, then the bravest stood up and croaked at the noble standing before him.

“What would you have us say, Lord Helel? You know our desire. We simply wish to go forward with our experiments. We have been grateful of your patience, but our desire to create is as your Father’s. We want childr— “

“My Father’s desire? He gave you life! Your experiments are blasphemous slights to the gift he bestowed upon you, His sons! I have been here for centuries…I have listened to your grievances.”

The same being spoke again, but this time more sure of voice, “You have been merciful, Oh, Morning Star. We have a yearning need to reproduce. If your Creator will not give us that, then we shall make our own way!”

All of the being’s comrades stood and drew their shimmering swords. These blades could cut through anyone of the Creator’s beings; He had held no secrets from the people of Gehenna. They had known of their Father from the beginning, and had shared in His ways. Alas, they were not like the original sons. The Creator’s original children were made wholly of His Fire; but this newer creation was only a piece of His Fire encased in a material form. It was this fleshly weakness that Helel believed to be the source of their ambition. Their “will” as they called.

Helel stood with his arms crossed and wings outstretched, ablaze. His corona shone brightly about his head.

“Helel! Your Fire is the only energy we need. If we could have your power, we could create the children of our dreams. Why would you deny us this?”

The mighty seraph took pity on these physical beings. They were so much like him, yet understood so little. He relaxed his wings and lowered his head.

“Younger brothers, how little do you understand. I have been merciful with you all this time. Do you not think our Father has heard your treacherous ramblings? Your irreverent thoughts? Your temporal way of thinking has rendered you deaf to the wishes of the Above, and this world must suffer for it.”

The words of power flickered through his mind over and over again. As a dignitary he was only given such a weapon in case of a moment of absolute necessity. In truth, he had always considered these creatures to be abominations, and now they wished to reproduce their disgusting species until it could rival the armies of Firmament. He had been anxious for the day he would find himself in a position to say these holiest of words.

His lips parted and his tongue struck his teeth, but only silence was heard. The other beings looked at him blankly, swords of light still burning. The floor beneath them trembled, and lightning cut the room in two. The ground quaked and cliffs erupted from the horizon. The planet’s sun burst and engulfed everything. Even the faux-celestial architecture was not preserved. The flesh of the second kind turned to dust, but left their tortured souls behind in agony.

Helel could not help but smile at the destruction he had warned his Father would befall these creatures. He flew upward into the sky as the dying star bathed him in its warmth. Hanging in the atmosphere he watched the final seconds of this civilization; his lips parted once more.

“Beautiful...”

Then he flickered into darkness.

Helel’s feet touched down into a massive throne room. He immediately knelt in the center of seven pillars that circled the shining, silver room, stretching high until they were lost in the brilliant skies of Firmament. Two trees grew from opposite sides of the room; each one held glowing orbs that hummed with cosmic energy. A booming voice echoed throughout the room, bouncing off the walls of the cylindrical chamber.

“Rise, my son.”

The seraph stood straight; his onyx-tinted armor turned nearly white from the reflection of everything around him. His gaze fell on his twin brother: Imanuel. In every way these two seraphs were identical, but Imanuel’s skin was of the darkest bronze and his hair the brightest gold. His eyes, the same gold of his hair, looked with pity on his darkling brother. He stepped forward and embraced Helel.

“My brother, it has been far too long.”

“Yes, surely. Nine centuries according to the Second Sons' timekeeping.”

Despite this loving embrace - characteristic of his brother - Helel could feel that something was wrong. He hung his head onto his brother’s armor-plated shoulder. He had just returned from doing his Father’s bidding; what was this oppressive feeling that was washing over him? The room suddenly quivered and Imanuel stepped back from his brother.

“You acted rashly, Helel.”

The black-haired seraph was confused.

“Father, I observed them until we had reached an impasse. You gave me the words of power; I used them as I saw necessary. What have I done?”

“You condemned an entire race to an eternity of suffering! Their screams echo in my mind, and they know not why they were eradicated! I knew you would do this, my child, but I knew not that you would do so with such pleasure!”

The power of his Father’s voice forced Helel back to his knees. The Creator stood and stepped down from His blinding throne. His form was unlike His two eldest sons’. His body had no wings, and His skin was hard like metal, radiating heat like the stars He so often created. His face was like His body, but its light was far too bright for even His strongest sons too look upon it. He tore a piece of flesh from His arm and hurled it through the boundaries of Firmament.

“Father? What are you doing?! I warned you of the second ones’ betrayal! Why are you creating again!?”

“Silence! I will it! Your arrogance has blinded you from your duties. You were a dignitary to my second sons! You could have easily destroyed that faction alone, but you obliterated an entire plane of existence…for your own amusement!”

The Father stood between His two sons – His skin radiating throughout Firmament. He soon burned hot enough to scorch the walls of His throne room, which immediately repaired themselves to their former brilliance. Looking at His golden son, he spoke and calm washed over everything, “Imanuel, go to the Humans and tell them of their Creator. They are of my flesh and my breath. I have given them the power to create progeny, but, lacking the Fire, they will wither with age. Go now…”

“Yes, Father.”

Imanuel looked once more at his twin, then stepped forward and flickered into nothingness. The Father’s head turned toward His Morning Star. He placed a hand on Helel’s shoulder.

“My son, my Morning Star, I know every action that you will take, but your reasons I cannot know. That was my greatest gift to you and your brother. I see that my confidence was ill-placed. You have been revered throughout Creation. Still, your hubris cannot go unpunished.”

Helel looked up at his father, molten tears streamed down his ethereal face.

“Father…I did what I was told! How can you forsake me?!”

“You forsook me, my child. You put your own desires before my will. You did the same as the ones you condemned.”

Helel felt nothing. His Father’s disappointment had left him empty. He knelt dumbstruck. His mind could not understand what he had done wrong.

“Father…I did as You told me…I don’t…what is my fate then, Highest of All?”

“I created a world of sons, and, through destruction you have created a world of monsters. You must rule this twisted world of your own making.”

“You cannot do this…not to me. I am the Morning Star of Firmament! I am Your first son! How can you do this!?”

Helel’s ethereal wings turned the deepest crimson and burned with rage. His corona changed from a pale ringlet above his head into a chaotic crown of flames. The Creator grabbed His son by the collar of his cuirass. The raging energy around Helel drained from him -- swirling around his Father’s arm – and he returned to his previous pitiful state.

“Take solace that my new race will know you, and, should they turn from me, they will know your fate as well. They will know of your pride, your insolence, and your fall…and they shall call you by your title, LUCIFER!”

Helel felt emptiness below him as his Father let loose of his armor. He clawed and grabbed at the edges of Firmament. His crown and his wings flamed once again as he tried, with all his strength, to climb back into Paradise. His Father directed His gaze at His falling son. It was the first time he had seen his Father’s eyes. They swirled with sorrow and their authority forced Helel down, but as he fell he tore the fabric of Firmament and pulled his lesser brothers with him as he went. He streaked through space with a ribbon of the Heavens blazing behind him.

The twisted atmosphere of Gehenna distorted the angels that had forcibly accompanied Helel. The shining seraph shone no more as he lay in a crater surrounded by all of the destruction he had wrought on this place. Hope fled from his mind as he fully appreciated his fate.

“I am lost to Him...”