The Book of Elijah

The Book of Elijah

By Sebastian Ponce De Leon

 

 

 

 

Setting

            The first scene opens in a place full of light- The Kingdom of Heaven. There is a large castle in the distance that looks as if it has been made from diamonds. The floors are see through and you can see the Earth rotating slowly beneath it. Then, in the second scene the characters find themselves in a dark place  The Prison, Hell. There are thrones made of ebony and rubies. There are millions cages made of a black metal that rest in rows in front of the thrones. The Third scene opens to a loud park- Central Park. It is over seventeen thousand years after the first scene (2018). There is a large tree standing over a rusted bench.  During scene four, the characters go back to The Kingdom.

 

Characters

LUCIFER: quiet, analyzing figure who is searching for his lover.

LILITH: LUCIFER’s lover. Outgoing, Headstrong, extroverted.

THE LORD: the fake God. Has a calm, loving façade, while he is actually cruel and sadistic.

THE FATHER: the real God. Kind and loving. Is locked in Hell.

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL: angel who is secretly helping LUCIFER and LILITH find each other. Mysterious, aloof, has a very serious manner.

LITTLE GIRL:  young homeless girl who gives LUCIFER money. Makes LUCIFER want to save the humans. Cute, honest, adorably frank.

 

 

 

SCENE I

The Kingdom of Heaven

 

THE LORD

Destiny. The humans don’t deserve to have a free will. They are inferior to us. They have already taken the Knowledge of Good and Evil; that is more than enough. Do you agree, Lucifer? Lilith?

 

LUCIFER

Yes, Mi’lord. (He bows his head, respectfully.)

LILITH

 Absolutely not! (She crosses her arms) It is too much work for us to decide how each and every human should live! (LUCIFER whispers in her ear frantically, and pulls at her arm, trying to get her to be quiet. She pulls her arm out of his grasp) No, Lucifer! Humans have been too much of a burden on us angels! Let them kill each other if they wish.

THE LORD

Hm… I see… (He folds his arms and smiles delicately.) Do you not agree that the influx of souls to the Kingdom will be great is murderers are left unchecked?

LILITH

I do, sir, but-

THE LORD

(Cuts her off) And do you not agree that these souls will be irritating to us?

LILITH

(Stutters) Y-yes, but-

THE LORD

Enough! (Leans towards her threateningly) Do you need to take a visit to Hell?

LILITH

(Blanches) No! Of course not, sir!

 

THE LORD

Then you’d better think twice the next time you desire to oppose me. Lucifer!

LUCIFER 

(Jumps) Yes, sir?

THE LORD

Make sure you keep that woman silent, unless she has something useful to say.

LUCIFER

Yes, mi’ lord. (Bows his head and walks off left stage with LILITH)

 

THE LORD

Hmph! That woman… If she wasn’t so attached to Lucifer, I could make her my queen. Her beauty surpasses all of the She- Angels I’ve seen. She’s right, of course. Humans have been a burden on us. That is why I overthrew The Father. Hmph! He actually cared for those hairless apes! Free will, my wing! Those creatures are useless! Only good for being destroyed! Unless… (a look of realization comes across his face) Unless… Of course! Instead of taking their free will and killing them, I could enslave them! Imagine that! Wingless angels serving their superiors… now that’s a plan! (He walks off right stage)

LUCIFER

(He peeks his head out of the left stage and watches as THE LORD saunters off.) He… overthrew The Father?  (walks slowly to center stage and drops to his knees and bows his head over clasped hands) Father… Tell me what must be done for me to restore you. This imposter wishes ill with your creation. Help me. Show me the way.

THE FATHER

(offstage) Lucifer, my son! It is I who needs help. I am imprisoned in Hell, in the sixth cell of the sixth row of the sixth corridor. Make haste and restore me! And do not be caught, or it may cost you your life!

LUCIFER

(Nods his head and stands) Yes, Father. I will come for you! (Runs off right stage as lights dim to darkness)

 

SCENE II

The Prison, Hell

(LUCIFER and LILITH enter from left stage)

LILITH

(Looks around and pulls her arms around her, shivering) Luci, are you sure that this is the right place?

LUCIFER

Yes!  We took the corridor labeled “Six”, and here’s row- (he looks up at the numbers on the walls between rows.) �" four, five, and six! Now we just find cell six…

THE LORD

(offstage) Oh, he won’t be there. (He steps onto the stage from stage right) He’s long gone.

 

LUCIFER

You! (He pushes LILITH behind him and points his finger at THE LORD) You treacherous fool! We will find Him and He will destroy you!

THE LORD

(Strides across the stage and grabs LUCIFER by the throat. LILITH cries out and starts to pull at THE LORD’s arm.) You think you can threaten me, boy? You are nothing! With one twitch of my fingers, I can crush the life out of you, and you would be helpless to stop me!

LILITH

Unhand him, fiend! He has seen your power! He will not try to overthrow you again! (She is hysterical for her love)

THE LORD

(He throws LUCIFER to the ground and grabs at LILITH’s wing) I know he won’t, my dear. You’ll both be rotting on the Earth. You have lost your holy privilege. You will never again see the light of The Kingdom! (He tears her wings from her back as she screams in agony. He drags her to left stage and throws her offstage. Then he turns to LUCIFER.) You’re next. (He grabs him and does the same thing. Lights darken and LUCIFER’s voice is heard from offstage)

LUCIFER

That was the last time I ever saw her. When I woke, I was in a different land. As time passed, the land changed. Today, it is a large park in the middle of a bustling city. And that is where our real story begins.

 

 

 

Scene III

Central Park, New York City

LITTLE GIRL

Hey, mister! (She pokes LUCIFER, who is sleeping on a bench) Mister!

LUCIFER

(jerks awake and groans, rubbing his eyes.) Yeah, yeah, I get it, Officer. I can’t sleep on the park benches. I’ll move, okay?

LITTLE GIRL

(Giggles) I’m nots an officer, mister. I’m’s just a little girl.

LUCIFER

(Sits up and looks at the little girl)  You shouldn’t talk to strangers, y’know. Where’s your parents?

LITTLE GIRL

Don’t got none. They’s done died a year ago. It’s just me’s and Miss Molly now.

LUCIFER

Who’s Miss Molly? If you don’t mind me asking.

LITTLE GIRL

(Grins) Miss Molly’s my friend! She don’t never leave me alone. I love her so, she the only one who loveses me now that Ma and Pa passed on. (seeing LUCIFER’s confusion, she reaches into her bag and pulls out a camo stuffed reindeer) Mister Hobo, meet Miss Molly!

LUCIFER

(Is speechless for a second) Um… Hello, Miss Molly… (He shakes her paw gently)

 

LITTLE GIRL

(Holds Miss Molly’s face to her ear, listening) Miss Molly says “T’is a pleasure to meetchu”. Well, I’d best be going to the shelter. Take this. (She hands him a ten dollar bill) Go buy yourselfs a friend likes Miss Molly to keeps you company.

LUCIFER

(Takes the money hesitantly) Thank you. I hope I see you again.

LITTLE GIRL

Likewise, Mister Hobo. Seeya ‘round! (she runs off stage left)

LUCIFER

(Sighs and sticks the bill into his pocket) A human child… so peculiar, yet so… innocent. All she cared about was her stuffed reindeer…Miss Molly. To live a life so carefree…what in the world would I give for that! Anything and everything, that is what. To have such a special love for an object. And even though she had no parents or home of her own, she gave up a bit of what she did have so that I might have a bit of that love. Over the years, I have seen evil like none other. I gave up on saving the humans such a long time ago. But… what of those young children..? They have done nothing wrong to deserve what The Lord plans for them. (He stands with and urgent purpose) I must make haste. I must find Lilith quickly and with her I will restore The Father’s reign. I must do it to save that little girl who was so kind to me.

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL

(offstage) And that is where I come in. (strides onto the stage from the right)

LUCIFER

(Shocked) Michael! (He runs towards him and pulls ARCHANGEL MICHAEL into an embrace) Brother, it is good to see you.

 

 

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL

Agreed. Now down to business. (He cracks his knuckles) Lilith is here in New York. I have arranged for her to meet us here. But! (He stops LUCIFER as he opens his mouth excitedly.) We must be very careful. A group of angels followed you after you Fell. We called ourselves Archangels. We learned of the lie that The Lord had told us and sought to overthrow him. He annihilated us. I am the only one left.

LUCIFER

How many of you..?

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL

There were ten score of us.

LUCIFER

(angrily) How are we ever going to defeat The Lord with three of us when two hundred of you couldn’t?

LILITH

(offstage) That’s easy. We have you. (enters from stage right­_­) You have a power that no other being on Earth, Heaven, or Hell has.

LUCIFER

Yeah, the power to completely fail every time I try to do something.

LILITH

Yes! Well, sort of. You refuse to succeed unless other people will benefit from it.

LUCIFER

It will be difficult.

LILITH

I know.

LUCIFER

We could die.

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL

We could.

LUCIFER

(He looks between the two of them for a second) Damn you both. Let’s do it. (Lights dim to darkness)

Scene IV

The Prison, Hell.

LUCIFER

Ugh…I can’t stand it here. It gives me bad memories… (He sets a hand on LILITH’s wings)

LILITH

Me too… Let's just get this over with. This is the sixth row. And that cell says 'three". (She points to a cell nearby)

LUCIFER

(counts) Three...four...five...six!

THE FATHER

Who's there?! Come to torture me again, Asmodeus?

LUCIFER

Who? Father, it's me! Lucifer!

THE FATHER

Lucifer?! What are you- Oh, nevermind! Please, unlock the door before he-

THE LORD

Before I return? Well, I must say I am impressed. Lucifer, Lilith and Michael…Come to defeat me?! (laughs mockingly) As if! What I wonder, however is how Lucifer and Lilith got all the way up to the Kingdom without wings.

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL

I carried them both separately. It’s called teamwork, I don’t believe you’ve heard of it.

THE LORD

Teamwork… is that how you’re going to defeat me as well? Ha! I’d like to see that!

 

THE FATHER

You will never win against the teamwork of these three, Asmodeus.

THE LORD

(turns to the cell and growls) Asmodeus is my name no longer. I am The Lord Almighty! None shall defeat me! (he continues to argue with THE FATHER)

LILITH

(whispers to LUCIFER) We need to distract him… which of us do you think could hold our own against him best?

LUCIFER

Michael, no doubt. Without wings, we are practically human. Which means, unfortunately, we cannot win against him. I’ll get him to attack him. (He turns to MICHAEL) Look, The Lord is distracted, if you tackled him now, you’d have the upper hand.

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL

Why can’t you do it? He’ll eat me alive?

LUCIFER

You have wings. You’re stronger. Now go.

ARCHANGEL MICHAEL

(he cracks his knuckles and grabs THE LORD’s shoulder, turning him around) Eat this, Satan! (He punches him square in the jaw)

 

 

LUCIFER

(He takes the opportunity to run to the cage and attempt to open the door.)  Come on… (The door won’t open.)

 

THE FATHER

You must use your Holy Power to open it! I know you don’t have much without your wings, but do this and I will restore your wings!

LUCIFER

Yes, Father.

NOT CURRENTLY FINISHED

Author's Note

This is a project for my Theatre 2 class... I really didn't want to do it but i think it's come along quite nicely... What do you think?