Summary: He is the demon of knowledge and he had loved her since the beginning of time. It is a love story that transcends time. The magical world doesn't believe in demons and the magical academic community Hermione works in does not believe in superstitions. But what if there's an element of truth to the stories. Could there be love along the way?
A/N: Inspired by a concept from Piers Anthony's Xanth Series. The idea came from this particular prompt: "The frozen lake had finally cracked open after all these frigid years. But it was not this fact that startled me. Rather, it was the single trail of footsteps that lead out." The use of the demon's name was derived from Gnostic texts. My muse always and remains to be Takeshi Kaneshiro. Borrowed a concept from Hellblazer.
Thank you for your reviews, ccccifaaaa and silverwolfigther00! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
The Dark Lake
"The world was naught, null, and nothing; only Tehum which means, "The Formless Darkness". But the Lord spoke into this Darkness and from within the Lord Himself came out a Word and the Word was "Light". So the Word of God entered the Darkness and there was Light, and the breath of God on which the Word was carried into the Darkness was Life, and this Spirit began moving and shaping the Darkness. Word and Spirit, Light and Life, began to give form to Tehum, that Tehum itself was no more, but was now the World that was, is, and will be.
The angels did not begin all at once, but the first of the angels created was named Heyley, which means Morningstar, the Son of the Dawn. Thus the Lord, with the first of His angels went on to form the heavens, earth and everything in between. How long this had been going on is unknown even to the other Heavenly Host. The Lord would always ask, "What does it matter how long the Morningstar has been? It could have been a day, but is thousand years any more than a day to the Lord?"
Then, came the day that the Lord created brothers and sisters for the Morningstar, and again the Lord called out a name and from the light of Heaven arose the second angel, whom men know as Michael, and in the same breath, the Lord called out a third name, and a third angel Ariel came forth. Again and again, the Lord spoke names and on and on until the whole of the shining light had yielded up each and every angel that would ever be. The Lord took these first twelve angels, the oldest, who would be the highest leaders of angels and set them under the instruction of the Morningstar to learn all that he knew.
The world was continued to be shaped and formed and everything around it created to His will. Until the last one, this last creation was very important to the Lord. He'd been saving it for a long time and from the breath of the Lord, the same breath that carried the Word into the World and formed the universe, the Lord made this creation in his own image. A man and a woman, and to these creatures, God gave something else His other creations did not have: Absolute Free Will. These creatures could decide to do anything it wanted, something nothing else could do for all eternity, even disobey God if it wanted to. The Lord raised up the man, Adam, before all of his creations, including His angels and ordered them to obey, worship and above all, love Adam as they loved the Lord because Adam was the Lord's favorite and bore the image of the Lord.
Sin is a very peculiar creature, it begins like a seed or an egg, growing until it becomes a great beast the lurks outside your door. It is a beast that all the descendants of Adam would one day have to gain mastery over. But for the Angels, Sin begins differently, hatching from Pride. My little Hermione, there is nothing wrong with being proud, otherwise the Lord would never give us talents, or success of families, communities and even civilizations to be proud of. But Pride is the reason why Morningstar forgot who gave him his many talents. As he was greatest, strongest, wisest, oldest, most handsome, and most exalted of all angels, he was also the most proud.
God have never asked Morningstar to love someone so greatly as he was ordered to love Adam. Never before did Morningstar have to bow down to anyone except the Lord. Why was Adam deemed so great? Adam hadn't helped God make the world, he, the Morningstar, had. His pride had been so offended that he forgot the Lord created him and he wondered if he was better at sitting on the Lord's Heavenly Throne than the Lord was.
Morningstar only ever loved the Lord, but other than him, of all his heavenly brothers and sisters, there was only one he loved; his brother Michael, the oldest of the angels other than himself. He used his charm, his manipulations and beseeched Michael to feel the outrage he felt against Adam. "Think about it, brother," he said. "For so long we have served the Lord our Father, and now we are to kneel before this new and untested creation? It is madness! Imagine what we could be without Father, Michael! I could sit on the Throne, and you to replace me as the highest of all angels. I'm sure after enough time, no one would even remember Father, or His human. We could rule! Together!"
But Michael did not share his older brother's pride and for the first time in creation, the Archangel Michael, Prince of the Heavenly Host, made a Choice – the Choice. Many choices we make today, we make with actions, but as the Lord had created the world with a Word, so Prince Michael made his Choice with a word. He looked his beloved older brother in the eyes and said, "Serviam…" which means, "I shall serve Him…" With these words, Michael turned his back on his brother, and the War in Heaven began.
It didn't take long for Morningstar to tempt every angel in Heaven with the prospect of overthrowing God. Most denied him, choosing to serve the Lord. But there were still those who sided with the Morningstar, and a great many of those there were, a third of the heavenly hosts. Haberakhah, whose name meant the Blessing was not tempted in the same way that the other demons were. But he was still prideful. He did not hate Adam, he merely did not understand why mankind was given freewill but was not given knowledge, his dominion.
The war waged hot and bloody. Many angels on both sides died, or as much as an angel can die anyway. But Morningstar wasn't afraid to lose his soldiers. He wrote the names of every single angel who obeyed and worshipped him as the new evil God, on his own wings so that if an angel fell in battle, he or she would rest "in the wings of the Morningstar" and angel's power would be added to him. Only the cunning Haberakhah who did not reveal his full name which is unknown to anyone but him and his creator was not included in the list despite the Morningstar's urging.
There were many wonderful stories that came out from this part of the war; from the transformation and betrayal or Rameel, the Pledge of Raphael, Uriel's Triump, Gabriel's Taming of the Dragons and of Ariel saving the Earth from Azazel. But the greatest story from this war is how the fighting in Heaven finally came to an end, that one final duel that was nothing short of a miracle.
By now, Satan, is the most powerful one other than the Lord Himself given how he took on the powers of those who followed him. On the final day of the battle, every angel was locked in combat while Satan remained off from the battlefield. But the soldiers, led by Ariel were able to turn the tide.
This gave the Archangels time to plan, Satan had not confronted them on the battle field yet because he would rather see the angels sworn to him give up their lives for him in an act of devotion, as it didn't matter to him as their strength was already his. This couldn't be guaranteed for too long though, due to Michael's soldiers driving back Beelzebub's, Satan's general's, and troops. As soon as word reached Satan that his plans were failing, he would come and face the Archangels himself, who would most certainly lose. After all, it was the Morningstar who had taught them how to fight; who had taught them everything.
The bloodshed must end, Michael stepped forward, he would go to Satan himself and challenge him to one final duel to decide the fate of Heaven.
At the thought of this, the Archangels protested, surely there must be another way, for Michael would certainly be destroyed the moment he made his challenge. It was Ariel who was the first to relent. Other than the Morningstar, he had known his brother the longest, and he had faith that if anyone could stop Satan, it was Michael, the most faithful and loyal of all angels. He had after all been the first to make a choice. At this there was no more argument amongst the Archangels, and all six brothers blessed Michael and with the company of Heavenly Host, prayed for Michael's victory.
Humans don't seem to conceive the idea that angels can experience miracles as the angels are after all the ones usually working miracles, but that was one miracle that nobody who witnessed it can forget, neither angel nor demon. That last day of the War in Heaven, Michael experienced a huge miracle for himself. There was no conceivable way he could have won, and in every scenario that a logic would dictate Michael should have lost.
But by the grace and glory of God, Michael was victorious. Michael cast Satan out of Heaven, and every angel who had worshipped Satan was dragged down with him. Down they fell, like bolts of lightning crashing to the earth; then deeper into the darkest depths, a place called Hell. A geis was made that they would be unable to step foot in heavens once more.
Michael then went before the Lord, carrying the shining crown that the Lord had placed on the Morningstar's head when he had been created. Instead of placing this crown on his head and declaring himself the new chief angel, Michael cast the crown before the Lord and knelt down before him. All of his brothers, the faithful angels followed suit." Abraxas finished his tale to Hermione tucking a stray curl behind an ear.
"You sound like you admire Michael, Shinji." Hermione said. He nodded. "I do. He is the most understanding and kindest brother a guy could ever have." He mused in a sad tone. "Then, why did you?" Hermione asked but was unable to finish the question.
"Haberakhah, now known as Abraxas, why did you disobey the Lord and took up arms in the name of Satan when you do not believe his folly?" Michael asked him before he was to go down to earth. "Pride and envy, I believe that the Lord was wrong in not allowing humanity to have full knowledge of everything around them and I envy man for his freewill." He answered.
"I was young and foolish." He answered ruefully kissed Hermione's forehead before she could press some more. He then switched the lights off. He felt that someone, other than the usual, was watching them and because of that he did not leave Hermione's side. He got an iced tea from the refrigerator, poured some into two glasses, conjured a chair from nowhere and sat by her bedside. He handed the other glass to Hermione's invisible guardian angel who thanked him before drinking it.
From Hell, a pair of cat eyes narrowed in envy and anger.
A/N: Source: The History of Demons – An Explanation of the War in Heaven and the Fall of Lucifer, as Explained to a Child