S E R A P H

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Ardent Longing For God

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O god, you are my god
For you I long
For you my body yearns
For you my soul thirsts
Like a land parched, lifeless
And without water
So I look to you in the sanctuary
To see your power and glory
For your love is better than life
My lips offer you worship

I will bless you as long as I live
I will lift up my hands
Calling on your name
My soul shall savor
The rich banquet of praise
With joyous lips my mouth shall honor you
When I think of you upon my bed
Through the night watches I will recall
That you indeed are my help
And in the shadow of your wings
I shout for joy
My soul clings fast to you
Your right hand upholds me

But those who seek my life
Will come to ruin
They shall go down to the depths of the earth
They shall be handed over to the sword
But the king shall rejoice in god
All who swear by the lord
Shall exult
For the mouths of liars
Shall be shut

---Psalm Sixty-three

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It wasn't a cold day. It wasn't particularly warm either. It was average. An average day in an average Earth city.

There was no splendor. There was no voice made of the sweetest strings in the air, nor was there beauty.

It was just a normal city on Earth.

He hated it. Hated the smell and detested the stench of sin upon the bodies of the masses.

It was ironic that he would hate what he was responsible for. Because despite the twisted mythologies these humans called their religions, he was original sin. It was never the fictional woman they called EVE. How could a mortal claim to be the root of all evil?

He laughed. It was so improbable.

There was no such thing. It did not exist. Such an absoluteness could not survive in a world that wasn't mean to be. When everything that had ever existed was planned out and dreamt up by a single entity, there could not be perfection. Not even God was omnipotent. He had his flaws. There were faults because the source of everything was flawed. Because He believed in the Absoluteness. He did not believe in the failures of his creations. And so creation was imperfect.

And he, perhaps the only one who could have stood against the stride towards the Absoluteness that engulfed the world---even he could not put an end to the lie.

God was dead and he---

he was dying.

To love anyone more than God is to sin.

Thou Shalt Not Have Any Other Gods Except Me.

He felt disgusted. It was a sin. Vanity, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy, Lust, Wrath---this is what drove God. This is what drove him to ever utter the words.

Thou Shalt Not Have Any Other Gods Except Me.

He closed his eyes. They were heavy. The weight of a lash, of warm skin and living flesh.

Humans were weak.

And he had failed them.

Despite the anger and the jealousy he had loved them. Loved them because He had loved them.

To love is to do the duty of the Lord. To hate is to serve the Devil.

What stupidity. Religion was the worst mistake humanity could make. To place rules upon their beliefs, upon their love. It created a false balance.

Why need there be a good and evil?

He was tired and he was dying.

Lucifer Morning Star. Cherished first child of God. His confidant and his lover. A lover in speech and thought if not action. And he had been cast down because he would not bow down to his equal.

Vanity, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy, Lust...Wrath...

All seven of the Sins had rejoiced the day he had been expelled from His side.

And they had realized that he was in the right.

So they joined him in Hell. In the ill-appointed realm of sinners.

And Michael---

who he'd loved

who he'd dared to touch

who he had become an equal with

his brother

his lover

Michael had chosen to stay.

And he was dying.

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This story has always been primarily for Killraven. It was your original idea, your vision for the characters that brought me to a point where I could actually begin to write this. And while at times like now I feel as if I must have failed you greatly, you have always been encouraging and I must thank you for that. Crary, my eternal friend and conceptual editor, I thank you for Immorality, for Lust and everything else.