Chapter I

An angel falls.

The three angels raised their arms in agreement. Thus, it was decided. The humans would act as a power source for the angels, as the souls of living beings could be converted into angelic essence fairly easily. These angels, these beings of light, were already being worshipped by the humans. After all, for creatures who live in and fear darkness, where else can they look for hope, except in the light? It would be such a simple task, and the lives of all angels would be made better for such a minimal sacrifice.

The fourth angel, however, scoffed. “Are you all insane? What gives us the right to take lives? We do not rule the humans, we live alongside them!” He bellowed in outrage.

“Not anymore, Lucifer. The council has decided, and our majority rules. We are the superior beings, and as such we deserve the providence our strength entitles us to.” The largest of the four retorted sternly. Lucifer was not intimidated.

“That is not for us to decide!” Said Lucifer, shaking with rage.

“It is, and we have,” declared the most frail looking angel. “This decision is not open for negotiation.”

“Well, brothers,” Lucifer began. “I will not negotiate then.”

The three other breathed out a sigh of tense relief. They did not notice Lucifer’s wings slowly spreading behind him. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light. The Lightbringer had struck out against his brethren. The largest one held his hands over his face, screaming in agony.

“Rafael!” called the smaller one, stooping to help his brother. When Rafael’s hands were removed, there was nothing left of his eyes, cinders smoldering in their place.

Rafael shook off his brother. “Ignore me, Michael, take Gabriel and stop him!  He must pay for his betrayal against the council!”

The two standing angels spread their wings, manifesting their power. A long, thin, double-edged sword appeared in Michael’s hand, while Gabriel had summoned a full suit of armor, a large tower shield, and a longsword. Michael took a horn off of Rafael’s belt, and blew into it. The sound echoed throughout the heavens. Shortly following it was Gabriel’s booming voice.

“Lucifer, the Lightbringer, has betrayed us! He attacked the council and has fled after wounding General Rafael! Angels, the heavens will not stand for such treason and heresy! Find Lucifer! Kill him or capture him, and bring him before the council! All battle-ready men and women are needed for this conflict. Go, now!” With a clap and an echo, the voice faded.

Suddenly it was replaced by a dim roar that echoed throughout the shining heavens as angels flew out of their gilded homes, out into the gold-crested streets among the crowds. Most had actual weapons, armor, and the like. Others were less equipped, holding various household instruments, appliances, and tools, along with their casual clothes (consisting of gowns and robes), for in their haste they were severely unprepared. They flooded and scoured the streets, fervently wishing to look good for the council.

The council was the governing body of the heavens, who were appointed by the Creator himself to act in the best interest of the world. There were four Angels on the council until this day. The Archangel, Rafael, the Commander of the Angels. The Messenger, Gabriel, the voice of The Heavens. The Son of the Creator, Michael, the one who wields power. And the Lightbringer, Lucifer, the one who created the sun. Then, the Creator saw fit to populate the world with humans. Simple, unremarkable beings who held a tremendous amount of soul and willpower. This, Michael discovered, led those very same souls to be easily converted into Angelic essence, which powered The Heavens and the Angels. Lucifer proposed that they live together with the humans; and when one of them should die, then they simply use the spirit to make their angelic essence. However, Rafael saw it fit to expedite the process. With humans so populous, and angelic essence so scarce and valuable, Rafael felt that the angels had a right to take the souls of humans as needed. To settle the dispute, the council came to a vote.

Lucifer folded his wings behind himself, shrinking back into an alleyway. He had covered a lot of ground, but he could still see an angel flit about outside every now and then. He wracked his brain, trying to find a suitable course of action. He refused to agree with the council; he could not. As if that’s still an option, he thought to himself. He would have to fight.

As if on cue, there was a loud crash behind him, and Lucifer was blown out of the alley. As he looked back he saw Gabriel advancing towards him, a crater in the ground. Lucifer spread his wings, and emitted another blast of scorching light. Gabriel averted his eyes and raised his gauntlets in front of his face, the shiny silver reflecting most of the light. The Lightbringer stood and flapped his wings, going airborne for only a moment before crashing back down. His right wing was bent at an angle; broken. He stood and tried to escape on foot, but he felt an impact from behind him as Gabriel tackled him to the ground. With his face contorted in pain and frustration, Lucifer looked up, only to see the tip of Michael’s sword in his face. Gabriel grabbed his former brother by the neck, lifting him into the air. Lucifer struggled and grunted, unable to escape the Angel’s grasp.

“Let it be known to all,” Gabriel’s voice boomed across the heavens, “Treachery in the heavens will not be tolerated!”

With that, Michael took hold of Lucifer’s wings, pressed his foot against the Lightbringer’s back, and pulled, severing the silky, white, feathered appendages. Lucifer screamed out in agony, and there was a brilliant flash as all of the light was ripped from the former angel’s body. When the glare subsided, Lucifer was crumpled to the ground. His blond hair had turned pitch black. His alabaster skin had a sickly paleness to it. His eyes were closed as he lay unmoving.

Suddenly, there was a rush of wind, and a dark energy poured into the empty vessel that was Lucifer, replacing the light with darkness. Black, feathered wings sprouted instantly from his back, much larger than those of an angel. Lucifer stood slowly, his eyes remaining closed. He felt the power within him, taking a deep breath. Now he knew what he had to do. Gabriel took a step back in cautious fear, but Michael brazenly lifted his sword, bringing it down onto his old brother.

A black, shadowy aura formed into the shape of a hand, lashing out and catching the sword. Lucifer turned his head, glaring directly at Michael and opening his eyes. They were a blood red, with a black slit marking his pupils. The shadow deftly ripped the sword away from Michael, and in a blur, Lucifer impaled it into the Son’s chest. Michael gasped for air, and Gabriel took a step towards the two, but Lucifer threw the sword, and Michael, into Gabriel, causing the sword to rip out of Michael’s chest, slicing through his heart as it exited the body. Michael spit out blood, and Gabriel grabbed Rafael’s horn away from his dying brother, blowing into it. The angels that were spread throughout the city heard this and rushed towards the sound. Gabriel picked up Michael, whose body was already limp and pale, and rushed away, leaving Lucifer to deal with the army that was rushing towards him.

The angels circled in the air, surrounding Lucifer from all directions. Five more shadows sprouted from his back as Lucifer spread his wings, his wingspan dwarfing that of even Rafael. Lucifer raised his hand towards the encroaching mob, and the same dark aura pooled around his hand before suddenly flying off towards his enemies. The blob of aura bursted into black flames upon impact, igniting a multitude of angels in the black inferno. Several more attacked, swooping in towards the former Lightbringer. Using his shadows, Lucifer caught the spear of one, tossing the angel to the ground and holding him there with a foot. He used the spear to deflect the attack of another angel, catching the angels legs with two of his unused shadows and slamming his enemy into the ground, crushing both of the attackers. Turning and launching the spear, another angel was impaled. Using all six shadows, Lucifer caught the fourth angel in a wrap, with an arm around his enemy’s neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, knees, and ankles, and pulled him downwards. The angel bent around Lucifer’s shoulders as his spine broke, and Lucifer tossed the lifeless body onto the pile. His eyes glowing, Lucifer turned and rolled, dodging out of the way of a flanking attack from several more angels. The ones who had caught fire were now returning the fight, scorched but mostly unhurt.

Lucifer lifted his wings and thrust them downwards, taking to the sky with a massive force. He clasped onto one of the angels, reaching around him and turning the both of them to face the ground, thrusting with his wings for the second time to send them both rocketing towards the ground. Lucifer let go just before reaching the ground, throwing the angel into the ground with such force that a crater was created, golden blood pooling in the center of it. The unfortunate victim’s body was scattered throughout the puddle. The dark angel took to the skies again, whipping his leg up in a powerful kick, catching the chin of one of his enemies and jettisoning it further into the skies. He turned his leg and slammed it into the stomach of another angel, sending the unlucky recipient backwards into one of his comrades. Two angels swooped in and grabbed Lucifer’s arms, restraining him firmly. Lucifer pulled, but couldn’t free himself. The shadows grabbed the heads of the angels and slammed them into each other, the sound of bones cracking splitting the air as the two slowly plummeted to the ground below. Spinning sideways, Lucifer dodged two angels dashing towards him from different directions, grabbing their heads with his bare hands, holding them up by their face on either side of him. His eyes pulsed as the angels clawed at his hands, and Lucifer’s hands trembled as he closed his fists, the heads of the angels collapsing beneath them. An arrow whizzed towards Lucifer’s head, but a shadow snatched it out of mid-air. Looking up, Lucifer saw nothing but arrows filling the sky, preparing to rain down on him. He covered himself with the shadows as the pointed tips showered  him, piercing the shadows repeatedly. They dissipated after taking too much damage, and his back caught several of the arrows. He grunted as he reached back and ripped the arrows out, black blood staining his skin. The shadows could not be summoned again, as much as Lucifer tried. He breathed heavily, angrily looking around.

He breathed out as he spoke. “You fools… All of you. You would blindly follow the orders of the council, even to the detriment of the world that we were created to protect. You make me sick!” He bellowed in rage, his eyes glowing once more. His fists were clenched tightly.

“If this is what it means to be an Angel, a being of holy righteousness, then I refuse to stand among you. I refuse to be a pawn of the council, I refuse to have my thoughts, my pride, ignored!” The black flames erupted from his hands again, engulfing the angels rushing towards him.

“I would rather be a Demon than an angel, and stand alongside the humans, to defend their souls against the atrocities that the council wishes to commit. I-”

“Lucifer!” A voice boomed, and Lucifer turned to feel a large, plated shoulder press itself into his chest, pushing him backwards, slamming him into the side of a building. He coughed, blood spurting out of his mouth as his ribs fractured. He looked towards his enemy. Rafael stood before him, fully armored, with a bandage covering his face from the nose up. The wrath emanating from the General was almost tangible. The other angels spread out, hiding away from Rafael. Lucifer glared, his perpetually blank expression not changing.

“Rafael.” He said coldly. “I see…” Lucifer snickered a little. “Oh, sorry.”

Rafael visibly shuddered, his anger overflowing. He reached out and grabbed Lucifer by the shoulders, intending to throw his weaker brother into the building once more. What Rafael did not expect was the new power that had emerged inside of Lucifer. Lucifer grabbed Rafael by the wrists and lifted his hands away. With only a moderate amount of effort, Lucifer swung the General around, launching him belly-first into the side of the building, causing the entire structure to collapse on top of him. Lucifer rose high into the air, spreading his massive wings so far apart that his shadow blocked out the sun.

“If I can no longer be the bringer of light… Then I shall take my new seat as the Bearer of Darkness.” Lucifer launched himself towards the center of the city, where the souls were converted into Angelic essence. There was large area of Heaven specifically tailored to the task; it was known as the Hellium Furnace, or more simply, Hell. Shortly after, the ruins of the building exploded outwards as Rafael burst forth and took after Lucifer.

Landing before the gates, Lucifer studied the firm bars. These gates were meant to withstand the attack of any army. Reaching out, a black energy coated Lucifer’s grip. With a small force, he pried the gates open. As he walked, fire erupted from the ground beneath him. He approached the center of the inferno, where there was nothing but a large pit, swirling with a light blue substance.

“The Reliquary of Souls…” Lucifer spoke reverently, as if not to disturb the pit. Kneeling down, he reached his hands inside of it. Normally, when an angel did this, the well would start to glow a golden hue, and begin converting into Angelic Essence. However, this time was different. The Well began to swirl faster and faster, absorbing the dark energy that was seeping from the Bearer of Darkness. The blue substance turned an ashen gray, and emanated a pure black aura, surrounded by a dark red energy. The shadow limbs regrew from Lucifer’s back, sharing the same properties of this new aura. The Fallen Angel had successfully corrupted the Angel’s source of power. He stood, feeling power flow within him.

“Now, I-”

His thought was cut short as the ground shuddered beneath him. He turned and saw Rafael plunging his sword into the ground at the very edge of the gates.

“Begone!” Rafael’s voice echoed over the plains of Hell, which were now also turning a dark grey, “And take your Dark energy with you, we have no use for it here.”

With that, Lucifer began to feel the ground beneath him sinking. He spread his wings, But then looked back at the pool behind him. A plan began to formulate in his mind. He turned, folding his black feathers, and glared at his enemy.

“You win, this time.” Lucifer smirked, making sure Rafael saw this act of confidence as Hell began to plummet.

Lucifer laid on his back. The force of the large mass of land falling from the sky was enough to press him to the ground. He watched as the chasmic hole above him grow smaller and smaller, both from distance, and from Heaven repairing itself. He closed his eyes. The future was not something he would be looking forward to. He muttered a few words to himself. He opened his eyes, glowing red once more. He stood, defying the force of gravity that insisted he stay put, and he approached the Well. Breathing out heavily, the Dark Lord walked forward, plunging himself into the pit. The swirling mass sucked him down into the center, the essence flowing into him in a torrent. Lucifer grit his teeth. This much power was never meant to be contained. He clenched his fists, tightened all his muscles, and refused to breathe. He did all he could to prevent this power from tearing his body, its vessel, apart. In the end, he won; but he knew he couldn’t contain it for long. With this much power, he could become a god. He could rival even the Creator itself. But no; he had other plans. He grit his teeth, and created three new entities, each holding a quarter of the power from the well. Two of them he gave a vessel; he gave them life, gave them bodies, gave them names.

One was Mephisto, the aspect of Avarice. The long, dark hair between his horns hung down in front of his right eye; the rest of his hair was short. He wasn’t very tall, and was excessively lean. His new brother was Abaddon, the Destroyer. This one radiated such immense power that even Lucifer himself was surprised. It seemed that Abaddon had absorbed some of the energy from the third entity, and used it for himself. His body was muscular and fit, his muscles defined and toned, but not bulging. He looked like an athlete more than a bodybuilder. Still, he dwarfed his brother in comparison. His hair appeared shaved on the left and right sides, but the middle third was rather long and swept back. Unlike his brother, you could see his ears framing his slim and angular countenance. He had two black spike earrings in his lobes. Compared to Mephisto’s slouched, minimal posture, Abaddon appeared strong and confident; a very noticeable and intimidating figure. The two were almost complete opposites, except that they each had one black-feathered wing, and one black, leathery one.

The third entity was different, however. This entity split into hundreds of thousands of smaller entities; Demons, as the humans would call them. They were small, and varied in power. They had black skin over their extremely skeletal bodies, with only the leathery wings of bats, and pointed ears. Their eyes were pure red, with no pupils. They stood straight, their heads only reaching about to Mephisto’s chest, and had long claws at the ends of all of their digits. Their basic and primal appearance perfectly countered the Angels’.

It was Abaddon who first spoke. “We’re falling.” He noted.

Lucifer nodded in acknowledgement. “Indeed. Get ready for the landing.”

Mephisto chuckled. “Sounds like it’s going to be fun.”

The demons chattered amongst themselves. Lucifer sighed.

“We’ll begin training once we’re all conscious.”

Everyone was silent, except for one of the lesser demons who asked, “Conscious?”

Just then, Hell slammed into Earth. Lucifer, the Twins, and all of the Demons were thrown to the ground. The force with which Hell collided with Earth was enough to cause a crater so deep that it started to collapse in on itself, burying Hell, and all of the demons. Lucifer spread his wings beneath him and created as barrier instantly, blocking all the debris and rubble from crashing down on top of them. Hell sank deeper and deeper, and more and more earth piled on top of them. Eventually, it stopped. Lucifer kept the barrier up, letting the other Demons get to their feet, the few that could. Among those few was Abaddon. He stood and looked up at the rocks and dirt that threatened to crush them the moment his father released the barrier. Abaddon spread his wings behind him. They were massive, matching, but just barely, the span of Lucifer himself. Thousands of shadow limbs erupted from abaddon’s back, each of them under his full control. They reached up through the barrier, grabbing at rocks and rearranging them. A few of his hands sought to wake his brother, shortly succeeding.

“Mephisto, help me out.” Abaddon asked, his real arms folded across his chest in a way that made him look very bored.

Mephisto nodded and raised his arms up towards the barrier.

“Father, now!” Abaddon shouted.

Lucifer released the barrier. The second he did, familiar black flames spewed forth from Mephisto’s outstretched hands. The blaze was so intense it hit the rocks and spread across their entire surface, melting them instantly. Mephisto’s flames held the molten sediment in place while Abaddon began swirling all of his shadows in circles, moving them faster and faster. Suddenly, a breaking point was reached, and the shadows generated enough wind to extinguish Mephisto’s flames and instantly cool the lava back into solid rock. They were now inside an artificial cave, which completely encompassed all of Hell.

Abaddon’s shadows slowly shrunk back into him, and Mephisto’s flames dissipated. Lucifer stood and looked at the Twins. He wasn’t so sure of his plan anymore. The two were far more powerful than he had anticipated. They on par with him, for sure. Lucifer only hoped that they would share his views. Slowly, more and more demons started to wake up.

Abaddon turned to look at Lucifer, He smiled softly, cocked his head to the side, and shrugged. “I guess we’re all there is.”

“Think it’ll be enough?” Lucifer asked, concerned.

“No,” Mephisto replied softly, smiling wide, “We always need more.”

“We have enough to destroy them; that’s what matters.” Abaddon stated.

Lucifer sighed and shook his head. “I’m not so sure. The three of us are strong, but do we rival Rafael and Gabriel? Surely. Do the rest of the demons rival the angels? I…”

Lucifer looked around at the multitude of lesser beings surrounding them. Some of the demons were figuring out their powers. Some could use two shadows, some could use one. The lesser of the demons grew increasingly frustrated as they found that they could use none. Compared to the militant armies of the heavens, they were mere animals.

“I doubt it.”

Abaddon shook his head. “You don’t understand, father. We have the same knowledge you do, the souls absorbed everything; but you are biased. We are not. You stood at the head of the army. You would like to think you made it stronger than it really is.”

Mephisto agreed, “The Angels are weak-willed. When their leaders fall, the rest will scramble in panic. With my fire and Abaddon’s shadows, we can take whatever they throw at us.” He smiled anxiously.

Lucifer pondered, but still couldn’t acquiesce. Perhaps he was just too overly cautious. “I think we should take time to train and grow stronger; Let them think we’re finished.”

“Nonsense,” Abaddon interjected. “While we sit and do nothing, they will rebuild and rearm. They may expect us to come again, and if we give them time they will be ready for us. Rafael may recover more than we anticipate. We need to strike now.” Abaddon spread his wings to their full length. They seemed to radiate with his shadow essence.

“Mephisto, let’s go.” Abaddon commanded.

Mephisto spread his wings as well, which seemed to smolder in the light. “I can’t wait.”

Reviews

[milestails16]

I really enjoyed the origin of how Lucifer became who he is now. The dialogue between the characters and the main conflict is what really grabbed my attention. The imagery in this chapter is amazing. I actually saw a happening as I read this, no joke. Keep up the good work.

[Taig Ferrier]

Thanks! I spent more time on this chapter than any other chapter in my stories to date. Be sure to stay tuned for updates to come! Also, feel free to check out my other stories, I'd love to get your feedback on it!