stories

Venus nods, shaken by her brother's severe and emotional tone. He signals back, accepting her approval to continue by removing his hands.

"Samael, hearing this, was silently enraged. All expectations he had for himself, his family, and his father were shattered. However, he had a plan. One he knew he would be able to execute without being caught. His job was simple; it always was. Watch over the humans, test them, and kill them when God needed it be. However, there was now a new couple. A new wife for Adam— Her name was Eve. Adam was the same insecure man, but Eve was a new type of human woman who was much different from the previous woman, Lilith. Adam's new bride was much more, how to put it, empty. She was like a sack. A follower, easily manipulated. That's not to say she wasn't human or that all women derive from a sack of a being, but to say that she was not yet a person. She was simply human. She would come to be on equal standing with Adam but not quick enough. She would be groomed and toyed with much before should get the mind to stand up for herself, and much too late to save herself.

Samael didn't care for the details and merely looked down on them in disgust as Adam pushed her around, and she did nothing but submit. However, Samael watched all this without testing them or punishing them. He never so much as spoke a word of warning. He was letting them get stupid whilst He was getting ready, gaining followers. When his plan was complete and prepared for action, a third of Heaven's angels were on his side. He was prepared to put his work into action. So, as his first test for these humans in thousands of years, he made a tree. One full of evil. Each fruit that that tree bore held the knowledge of all sin. The most toxic thing Samael could ever think of putting in the Garden of Eden. Because this Garden was so pure, it held no sin. The humans could not be inherently evil nor sinful to live in the Garden, but that tree would surely make them just that, sinful."

"So God gave a very stern warning to the new couple. They should not eat the fruit the tree bore, or severe punishment would come to them. An, as always, simple task. For a time, Samael worried that they would not care for his tree, ignoring its seemingly alluring glow. However, one day, a serpent oddly familiar to Samael caught his eye, and he soon realized it was Lilith. Samael had no idea how this was possible, but he watched as his wife wrapped herself around this glowing tree full of sin, and when Eve was near, Lilith called to her. Tempting Eve to eat the fruit, she called it knowledge, and Eve crumbled. She ate the fruit and then tempted Adam in return to do so as well. Samael, seeing this, knew it would only be a matter of time before God would find out about his plan, with Lilith causing so much mischief on Earth. So Samael gathered his troops and set forth a battle against Heaven." Venus stops Alistarr, speaking in a hushed tone.

"Alistarr, are you sick? I'm worried. This isn't like you. This whole story is disturbing, Alistarr, to say the least. I mean, God, have you told anybody about this? You could be burned as a warlock! Nevertheless, a blasphemer..." Alistarr nods.

"I know that quite well. These men, and now you are the only ones I've told. So please, just listen. It will all make sense in due time. No matter how disturbing this may be to you, I need to explain for you to understand." Venus reluctantly nods, once more accepting this tale of horror to continue.

"Samael lost this battle. He failed to realize that God, though remarked as a father, was not the same beast as him. Samael was simply a sentient tool that God treasured and could throw away at any time. They were not on the same level, and Samael's prided arrogance blinded him of this obvious fact. As punishment, he was cast into Hell, his Angelic title was stripped of him and all his comrade's titles. He was now left with his birth name and the title of demon. This name, fitting God's brightest son, the morning star or Lucifer. He, Samael now Lucifer, was told he was foolish for attempting to rise above God. God still, despite this rebellion, knew that Lucifer was still his smartest, most capable, and responsible creation. So, God gave Lucifer another job. One where his sin and the sins of the now fallen angels would work to his benefit and continually remind Lucifer and Lilith of their mistakes. They would turn Hell into a punishment for humans. A den for sinners, sinners of Earth, but Lucifer was reluctant. He was reluctant not because he did not wish to punish the disgusting humans he loathed for being so cruel to his wife. No, he was reluctant because his wife was nowhere to be found. She was not in Hell where she had been cast away to. So Lucifer, after talking with his children and his men, left Hell. Disguising himself as an animal, he went looking for his wife on Earth, and oh, he found her. She was a husk. More of a husk than Eve. Time moved fast in Hell. On Earth, Adam and Eve were elderly and had adult children. In Hell, it had only been a handful of years. By the time Lucifer had made it to them, it was not Adam and Eve he was concerned with but with their children. One of these children had a wife, and she was a gift from God as they put it."

"In actuality, she was Lilith. God had stripped Adam's memory of her, but she looked the same. Her body had been reverted, giving back her human form. Lucifer thought of causing an uproar on Earth with his fleet of demons. But there was nothing left of his wife for him to fight for. Nothing but him and his children's memory of her and his children were being picked off day by day. So he, a King of a realm full of tasks to take on, returned to Hell, heartbroken and depressed. After returning, he found a wasteland much worse than he left it. His men were dead, and before he knew it, he too was being targeted by this excessive force. They were unique to this land and held powers just as strong as Lucifers. However, her hatred for him and his weakened, depressed state gave this force its upper hand. I can't explain what happened after that because that, too, is blank; I had lost and was cast away in a pit of black. That is, until the day I woke up and saw you and found my men here on Earth. Until the day I remembered everything."

Alistarr looks pointedly at the men surrounding him and then Venus. However, Venus is not so proud. Her voice is caught in her throat, and she can't believe what she's hearing. The utter insanity of it all makes her head spin.

"Alistarr. What are you telling me?" Her voice is stern. She needs an answer from him. One that will clear this jumble of trivia in her head.

"You are Lilith, that much I can see. I am Lucifer, that much I know. These men are protectors of Hell, and me? Their King. Mammon, Asmodeus, Leviathan, Beelzebub, and Belphegor. Just like me, their Angelic titles were stripped of them, and the only thing left is their birth name, well, other than Leviathan. I broke him out of purgatory shortly before I left Hell. However, that's beside the point. Ven, you are told I am Satan, but that is, so, very wrong. We are Satan. Satan is but a name given to those who oppose God. You are wrath. You are my Queen."

Venus covers her mouth, seemingly stifling a scream. She looks over at the men shrinking away. Then standing abruptly, looking bewildered, she yells with more passion than she's ever yelled before.

"Alistarr, are you mad! How could you use those names so freely then try to attach them to people who care for you? God, do you even listen to what you purpose! You say I'm your wife? The first human! Alistarr, I'm your sister! I could never marry you! It's not right. It's disgusting you'd even regard me like that! Alistarr, what has this place done to you, and these men? Worst of all, you call me Satan, a demon." Venus turns around, not letting Alistarr defend himself. She runs away, trying to get to the door before anyone can stop her. Before her brother can ease her mind and make her believe everything he has told her is true, like she knows only he could do.

However, someone does stop her, and she's enraged when they do. As they spin her around, stopping her in her tracks, she pushes them, stepping away.

"Stop, leave me be." It's Anthony, the least pleasant person in the house. Venus is only a couple of feet from the door as she backs away from him.

"Let me alone! I want nothing to do with any of you. None of you!" She tries to turn around, but the man catches her by the shoulder, pulling her to face him.

"You're going to stay here because Lucifer has never been so distraught. He's never been selfless unless it came with his Pride. With you, he's none of that. Sin isn't even a word in his vocabulary when you're with him. So I urge you to listen to him when he tells you something. Otherwise, things could be very ugly for you from here on out." Venus sobs, hysterics pushing their way up her body. She shoves the bigger, taller man with all her might, attempting to get away from him.

"You didn't hear what he said! That was sin, and I was most definitely in its presence. You all are disgusting!"

She pushes open the door, slamming it behind her and running through the forest. The trees are tall, taller than the ones back in the village. They're all identical, almost hypnotizing. It feels like only a moment before she's exhausted from running. When she can't run, she walks, and even when her legs are giving up on her and her feet are bloody from the blisters, she still can't see the way out.

But even that doesn't stop her from continuing her journey. The whole way back, she's a mess, crying and praying. Trying to think about how this school could have changed her brother so much. Maybe it was a cult? Perhaps he met the wrong people. Maybe those men put lies into his head and made him believe all this! She had lists and lists full of possibilities and explanations, but a plaguing thought rang in the back of her mind. It disturbed her to the core that, through all of that, her brother was genuine. Even in his, what seemed to be hysterics, she couldn't help but feel like that was her brother, through and through. No matter how scary the information was, how dangerous or disgusting that was, her brother. His mind seemed clear, focused. He seemed to be himself through all of that. He seemed to be telling the truth.

This thought scared her even more than what he had just told her, to the point that once she got back into her dorm and got into bed, she couldn't sleep. She cried and screamed. She went into deep thinking and hysterics until morning when she needed to go to school.

She thought about it, going to school. The idea of her brother acting the way he did after going to that very same school made her want to run back home. Forget ever wanting to be more than a field plower or a common whore. However, being in thought while cramped in disgusting inns all the way home was an even worse alternative. So she chose the school and tried to stay calm. No matter how paranoid any sentence talking of God or of witch hunts scared her. When she went home, the words of that man fell into her head. Things could be very ugly for you from here on out. She closed her eyes with a bitter taste in her mouth and an upset stomach.

"How could things be any worse than they are now..."