Chapter 3

Lucifer's Perspective

"What is he thinking?" I shouted, kicking a mouse near my feet. It squealed and screamed, then ran away. I felt a twinge of pain for the poor little creature; it was not his fault that my father was crazy.

"What do you mean?" Raphael asked, appearing suddenly by my side.

"These new creations of his! What could he possibly be thinking? Did he really expect us to bow down to them?" I exclaimed.

"Well, I don't know. I don't quite understand either, to be honest with you."

"How could he do this to us? Aren't we good enough?" I cried, slumping to the floor and putting my head in my hands.

"I am sure that father loves us, Lucifer. It's just that he needed something else to do once he finished creating us."

"HE COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING ELSE! ANYTHING ELSE!"

Michael appeared by my side then and place his arm around my shoulder. I looked up at him and tried to stop crying; there was some about Michael's piercingly blue eyes that made me want to smile, yet avert my eyes.

"Lucifer, what is the matter?" he asked, wiping a tear from my face.

"It's these…these humans! How could he think they are his greatest creation? What about us?" I wiped my nose with my sleeve, continuing to stare at Michael.

"Lucifer, father always has a reason for doing things. Why don't you go and observe them for a little while and then see what you think?" he said. I looked at him and smiled; Michael had always been intensely smart.

"Alright, I will give them a shot. But if I don't like them…"

"If you don't like them, you can take it up with father," Michael said, helping me up.

He and Raphael vanished, leaving me alone in the hallway. I stood there for a little while longer, debating my decision to go and walk among these new things. I teleported down to Earth and began my observation of the new favourite.

My first impression upon my arrival on Earth was that these things were stupid; I mean, they were all living in huts and killing Animals with rocks. Couldn't they be sophisticated and build houses and great halls? Did they have to kill animals, which had never harmed them? Why did they not eat the fruit from the trees?

I walked around this little village for a long time, watching them and observing. My second impression was that these creatures needed the animals to survive and gave the fruit from the trees to the animals, as if it was an exchange for the lives of the animals. They were prehistoric in their workings and had no sophistication what so ever. I didn't think they were so bad at first, not until I was about to go back to heaven.

I rounded a corner in the village, expecting to see more of these sad little huts, but instead, I saw two of them fighting. One had their hands on the other's throat, and the one was beginning to go limp; after a few minutes, one of them was dead and the other walked away without remorse. I recoiled in disgust at its actions; how could any creature of my father do this? How could he expect us to bow down to them?

I went back to Heaven immediately to tell my brothers of what I had seen. I found Raphael walking down one of the many pathways in Heaven and stopped him immediately.

"I saw them, Raph. I saw father's new creations."

"And, Lucifer? What did you think?"

"They are horrid, Raph! They slaughter the animals and eat them; they kill each other without remorse. How could he expect us to love them? To bow down to them?"

"I have only ever seen them be kind before. I wonder what happened today."

"I don't know, but these things cannot be allowed to exist and poison the planet. Father will not let them."

"He already has, Lucifer. Why else would he have allowed them to exist this long if he did not love them despite their flaws?"

"Father is insane if he thinks these things are worthy of his love."

Raphael frowned at me and disappeared. I could tell that I had upset him, but I didn't care. All that mattered to me was that father seemed to think that these monsters were better than us, and I needed to tell him that. I needed to get somebody to listen to me; but maybe if they didn't listen to me, they would listen to Michael.

I found him sitting underneath the Tree of Knowledge, reading a book of some sort; as I moved closer, I could see that it had something to do with battle and rivalry. I stopped and started to read over his shoulder, hoping he wouldn't notice me for a little while. It was only a few minutes before he realised that I was there.

"What's troubling you, Lucifer?" he asked, closing his book and standing up.

"I don't want to bother you, Michael."

"Lucifer, you know I hate it when you do that. Tell me the truth, what's bothering you?"

I kicked at the grass around my feet, acting bashful and shy even though I had always told Michael everything and anything.

"Well, it has something to do with the humans…" I said.

"Dear little brother, don't tell me you don't like them…"

"Brother, I saw them killing the animals! I saw one of them murder another and walk away, leaving the body in the street! How could I possibly care for them?"

"Do not begin to presume that you know them. They are not all that they appear to be."

"Tell me, Michael, what am I not understanding about them? What could I possibly have missed after spending an entire day there?"

"Lucifer, not all of them are savages. Spend a little more time down on the surface, I beg of you. Please, just observe them for a little longer before you call on father to discuss this."

"Why?"

"Because I am asking you to," Michael vanished, and I was once again left standing alone.

I decided to do as I was asked and went back down to the surface, but I decided this time to stay for a month and travel to different villages. After the first week, I began to see what Michael was talking about. Many of these people were kind to the animals; they gave them food and shelter from the elements. There were small versions of humans (from what I heard, they were called children) that ran around the streets and played with little wooden objects called toys. I smiled at their simplicity, watching them run around and laugh as if they didn't have a care in the world. Maybe Michael had been correct, and my first thought had been wrong.

When I moved on to the next village, I saw much of the same. There were a few of them that were savages, but many of them were kind and partially intelligent. I continued my travels and moved on to the next town shortly after arriving at my second stop. But as I began to travel further east, I noticed something different.

When I arrived to the 3rd town, something was different. There were no happy, smiling children. No animals, no shelters. There were only what I had heard were called men; they were hairy, atrociously dressed, and their hair was not combed or neat in any way. They stood there, talking about the hunt and how they were going to try and hunt down something. I waited a few more minutes, listening to their conversation before they got up and started to run. I followed them, walking in the shadows until they reached the door of one of their huts. One of them knocked, and when the door opened, a sickly old man stood before them. The younger men took out their hunting knives and stabbed the man, over and over again until he was dead. When the younger men had gone, I ran to the old man and cradled him in my arms; his eyes were wide open with shock. I cried for him and closed his eyes, and with a snap of my fingers, his hut was on fire; I gave him a burial fit for a king.

After the hut had burned to the ground, I went to the next town. But I continued to see more of them same. Innocent men were being murdered by their peers without remorse. I had to shield my eyes; children and what I had heard called women were being killed, and at one point a man forced himself on a woman in a way that made me want to kill him. But I could not let myself be seen by these monsters or else I would have to face the wrath of my father. I continued to travel east, but no matter where I went, these horrific things kept happening, and no matter how much I ran, I could never distance myself from them.