Sympathy for Satan
"I never asked of any of this" said the man after I entered. He was very pleasant to look upon, although very skinny. He had beautiful golden blonde hair, hair that any girl would be envious of. He had a very rich British accent that sent chills up and down my spine.
"But that doesn't matter, does it? Nobody asked my opinion, just went out and decided to make me the bad guy. And what do I do? I play along. There is no salvation… not for people like me. 'To everything there is a season, a time for everything under heaven' says Ecclesiastes" He shook his head, blinked a few times, and went back to preparing the tea.
"I hate the Bible, but you can't find another person who knows more about it than I do. I hate God, as well. He put me into this mess. God created everything; anybody with half a brain could tell you that. I was His best creation, you know, in the Beginning. The Highest, most Beautiful Angel you could ever lay your eyes on. Not one was Higher than me, except for God Almighty Himself"
It was then that I noticed that he had two horns on top of his head, and even though they were incredibly small, I had to wonder how I managed to miss them. My eyes scanned up his slight form. He was very scantily clad, wearing nothing but black pants that was torn up at the bottom. I can see his ribs perfectly, and his shoulder blades poke out almost dangerously from his back. It was pretty clear that the poor man hadn't had a decent meal in a long time.
"And I knew it. I knew that I was beautiful. I could tell from the way that the other Angels looked at me as I walked by. Or glided, I was much too graceful to simply walk like most. But I'm getting rather off topic, aren't I? I'm not here to tell you about my glory days, although, thankfully, I'm still as beautiful as I was" I smiled. He was incredible- breathtaking. His skin was tanned, no doubt from hours of being outside. His alarming weight loss did nothing to subtract from him- in fact, it added to his allure, and gave him a rock-star feel.
"I often wonder why I was created" Lucifer snorted, sitting at the table after giving me my tea. He really was a generous man, once you got to know him. "I suppose everybody does, at some point or another. God knows everything, right? He's omniscient, after all. He knew that I'd fight against Him, and take a third of His Host with me. I often fancy that the bugger did it on purpose, so He'd have somebody that could be blamed for all the world's wrongs" I stayed silent, quite unsure of what to say.
"It didn't work out the way He intended, though, did it? He's always blamed first, and I say, bully for Him! I told Him not to invent those creatures, those Humans… no offense, or anything… but He did it anyway. That's what started that bloody argument in the first place, the one that got me kicked out of Heaven. What did He need with those little ponces, anyhow? He had literally hundreds of thousands upon thousands of Angels to praise Him and worship Him day and night, and was that enough! NO! OF COURSE IT WASN'T ENOUGH! IT WAS NEVER ENOUGH!" he was standing up now, his eyes glittering dangerously. He hit the table, mumbled something, and then went over to his kitchen counter.
"Sorry" he said quietly, still not looking at me. "I… always get worked up over this. You came here to hear my side of the story, right? To hear how the highest, best creation became the Prince of Darkness?" I nodded eagerly. He sighed, leaning against his counter, nursing his tea.
"God and I argued about it for the longest time, and you can see who won. I knew that they were going to hurt Him. I knew that they would make Him miserable, and that He would regret making them, one day. But… it didn't matter what I thought. He made them. He declared that they were the best creation then, and that the Angels were all below them, and they were His favourites" Lucifer's grip on his cup tightened, and his voice had gotten husky from unshed tears.
"He got most of the Angels to bow down to those wretched creatures, except for me and the Angels who supported me. He demanded to know why I wouldn't bow down, and I told Him that I bowed to nobody… nobody except for Him. He grew angry with me then, and kicked me out of Heaven, with my followers" Lucifer smiled, staring intently down into his glass. His smile was slightly crooked, and I couldn't help but to find it endearing.
"That was when I came up with The Plan. I thought that if I could prove that those humans were unworthy of God, then He'd see that I was only trying to prevent Him from being hurt. So I went up to the Garden, and tricked Eve. It didn't work out like I planned, however, and they were still God's favourite" He shook his head, his golden hair catching in the sunlight. He truly was beautiful. His pants rode low on his hips, showing off very prominent hip bones. On each of his wrists were silver shackles, which extended up to his forearms.
"I grew jealous of them, I admit. It ate me up. I tried different things, trying to destroy them. Some worked, most didn't. In all honesty, I think God did a better job of getting rid of people than I ever did. Remember the Flood? The plagues of Egypt? All the random, pointless battles fought in the name of God? And for what?" He hoisted himself up onto the counter, setting his glass down. I expected answers, when I had come here, but I didn't think that he would be so honest with me. After all, he was the Devil. "I never started a war on my own, you know" He said quietly.
"I never gave up on God, for a long while. I always thought that He'd come around, eventually. It was around the death of John- the writer of the book of Revelations- that I finally saw that God truly didn't want anything to do with me any more. I was… heartbroken. He sentenced me to Hell, for eternity. There's no turning back time, and even if there was… I don't think I'd change what I did. I had asked Him, long ago, what it was that made him decide that I couldn't go back. It was at the Beginning- when I tricked Eve. He had me condemned, way back then"
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. When I had died, I was granted one wish- anything that I had desired. One thing I never understood in my life was the Devil, so I had requested an audience with him. Michael, an Archangel, had raised an eyebrow, saying that this was never done, and asked for me to change my mind. I had refused, and was granted my wish. I had expected to meet a terrible and frightening demon, and instead I got this tall, thin, beautiful man.
"It's useless, innit? The powers of good and evil, duking it out for all of eternity. I know what is there for me, at the End of All Things. I am to be put in a ruddy cage for a thousand years, and then let loose on the New Earth. And to what point and purpose? God will just lose more of those whom He says He holds precious. What's the point in being good and getting into Heaven if there's a chance that you're going to be sent to Hell anyways?" Satan seemed to be a person who moved around a lot. He was fidgety, and began pacing the floor. He hadn't been lying; he was indeed graceful. Every movement he made seemed to be carefully planned out before it was executed. I frowned slightly. Satan being a planner seemed to be a strange idea- he always came off as the rash type whenever there were stories told about him.
"Not that it matters, I suppose. No choice and all that. We're a lot a like, you and I. Useless puppets staging a great show, with no control over our actions or destinies. Playing for the Master Choreographer. It's not like I actually enjoy taking lives and destroying souls. I do it because it's my job and what's expected of me. I didn't want all those people to suffer eternity in Hell- I never made the place. I just wanted to show God that people couldn't love Him like His Angels do- like I do. Did. Like I did, a long time ago" He frowned. His eyes were icy- and matched the silver shackles on his arms perfectly. I had a feeling that he still loved God, even though he didn't want to admit it. After all, he was hurt.
"So here we are. Still waiting for the apocalypse, where I will do what has been predestined for me to do- to the very letter. Can't have it any other way, now can I? Need to fulfill prophecy, because God's Word always comes to fruition" He stopped pacing. "Sometimes there's things in our lives that we can't fight; we just need to suck it up and play the cards we've been dealt, no matter how rotten a hand it is. Hard to comprehend, innit? All of us, playing roles that were decided before we were created" He looked up at me, a sad, but determined look in his eyes. "Best get you to where you need to be, mate. I'll be seeing you around, I suspect"