Sophia's Chronicles

Chapter 13: The Demon

My days were spent between Hell and earth. It was always a forest on earth or our room in Hell, never an in between. Lucifer and I saw each other so rarely that 'our' room became 'my' room. I'd glimpse him from time to time, like a phantom in the corner of my eye. There would be an aching tugging like a string between us but we'd both painfully ignore it. He'd be in his study most of the time and if not there, the armoury. I'd be laying all alone on the bed or on a tree branch somewhere, unwilling to get up for days at a time. I felt like I could just dissolve into nothingness if I willed it so. On some days I did, but the uncertainty of the future made me hold on.

Inside, I was dried up like a desert. My mind was a drought, tired of crying my heart out for someone to hear me. And even if someone did, I wasn't sure I could even speak. Every time someone tried to talk to me, I always seemed to snap at them. Between Lucifer and me doing that, the angels didn't dare approach either of us. In that regard, I preferred talking to God. He never responded. I could say anything – yell anything – into the air and I knew He was always listening. "I always thought you knew me best," my raspy voice sounded through the comforting noise of rain and flowing water. I had a good view of the river from my seat on a branch against the tree bark. "So who am I supposed to be?"

The soft crashing of water against the river bank lulled me into a trance, luring me deeper into the forest spirit. A chirping interrupted my nap. I opened my eyes to see a small bird poised on my toe. It sang a tune to initiate conversation, its melody inviting and friendly. It had a beautiful rainbow-coloured body and such fluffy feathers that it appeared merely as a ball of life. Its beady black eyes even appeared happy to see me. I exploded it with a look. Blood and feathers splattered everywhere, causing other birds in the area to flee from my general vicinity in a single, hurried frenzy. I took a few deep breaths, witnessing the result of what I'd done.

"Does it even matter?" I continued. "Does it matter who I am? Did it ever?"

A single coloured feather floated its way down in front of me. I held out a palm, letting it land in my hand. I studied the lustrous colouration it bore. So much variety this earth had to offer, I thought. "Do any of these creatures matter to you at all? It feels like you just made them to please the humans. You made us perfect and them, imperfect. Do you really not see why I can't grasp your decision?"

The skies cried a silent assent. I sighed. I leapt down from where I was, feet landing with barely any noise. As I walked back the way I came, I spotted a wolf, some deer, rabbits, more birds – typical forest creatures. I killed them all. It wasn't because I hated them. It was the opposite – I loved and admired them. I even petted some of them. I just wanted to see if anyone cared. In the grand scheme of things, the lives of these animals didn't matter. They weren't part of the correct phylogeny.

In the back of my mind, something Lucifer said began to make sense. We couldn't let the shame of falling from grace faze us. What life could possibly be lived in such ignominy? Right now, I lived like I was dead, without anything to look forward to, without anything to give me purpose. I was an empty shell and I couldn't take it anymore. I longed for this monotony to end. In that regard, Lucifer seemed way ahead of me. He was out and about, trying to find his own meaning in Hell while I simply wallowed in my own misery.

My mind and body were as one in their yearning for him. I felt at war with myself, torn between the hurt he caused me and the need to see that he was okay. Falling was somewhat of a humbling experience. It was a brutal confrontation of what really mattered to me in the end. My possessions, my home and even my family had been left behind. But Lucifer – he was the only constant. The only sense of self, the only frame of reference, I could come back to. And I supposed I was the same to him. I'd alienated him from himself as much as he'd done the same to me. We were as one being amputated into two halves. It felt like a part of me was missing.

I would bear it no longer.


The stale air caressed my bare legs as I carefully traipsed down the hallway. It took me a few months to prepare for this but I wanted things to be perfect. I'd made this dress myself and despite the rush of heat to my cheeks, I'd forced myself to sit through the entire process of it. Never in my life had I worn anything so skimpy. Luckily, this floor was only occupied by us. The dress was black, sticking tightly to my chest but loose below my waist (not that there was much cloth going down from there). I'd picked the freshest flowers from the earth to adorn my hair with – jasmine and rose, mainly. Flowers that he liked. I wore the kohl he'd given to me as a gift under my eyes. A simple pendant I'd found in a box of jewellery hung from my neck. One look under my dress would reveal the droplet-shaped black tourmaline on its end.

I took a deep breath. My feet came to a halt at the door. His muscular back faced me, a hand held behind his back cordially as he seemed to be browsing a bookshelf. My palms itched to trace the grooves and ridges on his back. For a moment I just watched him be, just to relish a moment of his existence – something I was grateful for every day. I was about to knock on the open door when he realised something was different about the air. It must have been the flowers. He spun around to confront the intruder but when his eyes came to rest on me, they froze. They widened ever so slightly, roving up and down my body. My chest rose with a heavy breath. This was what I wanted. A look that he could never say 'no' to. I felt fondled by his crimson eyes alone, like hands that spared no inch of me.

The air was silent, awaiting his judgment. His gaze simply fixated on my chest, as they so often did in moments like these. I held up a finger in front of my bosom, beckoning him to approach. Mouth agape, his legs blindly followed. I took a step back and his chest sunk with the same frustration I had. I turned away from him, gliding as a gentle breeze down the hallway. My hand traced the wall like a further invitation to the heights we would be reaching. I chanced a look behind and surely enough, found him pursuing me with the same anticipation. His fingers soon approached mine where it traced the wall and caught them, like a hunter catching his prey. His iron grasp threatened to annihilate as he pulled me closer.

I felt his freeze as he neared to a lethal proximity. His cheek rested against my temple. He took a whiff of the flowers which lent their seductive aroma to my hair, savouring it as I did his touch. I cradled his hand between both of mine. Locking eyes with him, I simply pulled him with me as I continued down the hallway. Impatience was all I could taste, between his yearning breaths and the tingling on my body from his searing eyes. We'd barely gotten through the door to the bedroom when he locked it shut with a thought. His hands instinctively fumbled with the laces on my back, unravelling them.

Before I could become fully exposed to his siege, he spun me around and caught my waist. Now our bodies were against each other, beginning to feel whole again. My hand moved up his chest, finding solace on his shoulder. His attention shifted from my eager hand to my face which he now looked at – really looked at – for the first time in the longest period of unwanted isolation. His thumb caressed my cheek. The tightening and relaxing of his throat muscles as he gulped only teased me more, leaving my lips ajar for invasion. As if sensing my desire, his lips tormented me, choosing targets on my forehead and cheeks and even the bridge of my nose instead.

My grip on his shoulder tightened to beg for mercy. This time, he was benevolent enough to spare me a long death. His mouth closed over mine, stealing my breath. The seconds were lost to time, never to be recovered again. Somehow I found myself being lifted by his strong arms, pulled only closer into his embrace. He walked us over to the bed, which welcomed my body as mine did his. My arms encircled his shoulders in an eager wish to be consumed by him. I was already halfway there, with his body on top of mine.

His hands slithered up my torso and unwrapped his black-clad present. He remained knelt on the bed as he savoured every minute of my vulnerability. I took my chance, caressing his neck as I made a line of kisses down his torso. I didn't stop until I undid his pants and took him in my mouth. I moaned at the taste of him, sucking and licking as I'd done so many times before. The sound of his exhales and soft gasps made me go harder, give it all I had. I felt him holding my head gently, keeping the hair away from my face as I did my work. Soon, I slowed to the tip, my lips enveloping him with kisses as I stared deep into those red irises.

He pulled me up to his face, slowly kissing me. He leaned onto me and without a choice, we fell back onto the bed. The dim light of the candles made him seem monolithic over me as he held my legs apart, teasing my entrance. His fingers tickled the inside of my thighs to torment me further. I groaned softly and arched my chest toward him, begging for absolution. That always won his favour in moments like these. When I least expected it, he plunged into me and I quaked with every inch that I felt. He pounced onto me, lips attacking my chest and my neck. Then he began his rhythm and I was lost forever.

We kissed audibly and breathily, taken by a manic lust. Our hands grappled for each other and began a parade of abundant squeezing and pulling. The smacking of our bodies against each other pushed me further and further into our energetic performance. I repeated his name over and over to aggrandise his ego, that he might take me to limits I had never been to. He thrust harder and faster and words lost structure on my lips. Now it was all short of a cry of helplessness. I drowned in a sea of danger and invited the expanse to consume me. His mouth dug into my neck. His hands held mine down, imprisoning me. My legs wrapped around his waist as I contributed in what little way I could.

He lifted his head and rested his forehead against mine. We bridged the highway between his frustrated eyes and my defenceless ones. My moans for release and his forceful grunts met in the final pushes. Slow but determined, few but impactful, we melted in each other. A cold wave of his release filled me up and sent an outbreak of shivers through me. My breaths grew shallow, thirsty for more, and he delivered in return for more kisses. We kept going this way, slowly enjoying each other. My body trembled when he finally decided to pull out, protesting the emptiness he would leave. But he more than compensated for it afterwards.

The flowers had given up nestling in my hair and now lay strewn all over us and the bed. We lay in a pool of love and comfort, wrapped in each other's arms. I could want for nothing more than this moment. In between slow kisses, we paused. And this would be the difficult part. One of us would have to start speaking. I would want to begin but I often floundered at the sight of his sharp jawline and thin lips, preferring to kiss them than start conversation.

"I'm sorry about the things I said," he began. I forgave him with an aching look. His was equally regretful. "I shouldn't have spoken that way."

"I'm sorry too," I added. Our voices were but whispers only meant for each other. "I didn't mean to sound cynical."

"You were right. All I want to do is spite them. I want to make them realise their own blindness. That shouldn't be the basis of our marriage," he confessed. "We'll do it only when both of us are ready."

"Thank you," I kissed him again. "Don't ever say that I don't love you."

"I won't," he promised. "I'll only say that I love you too."

I managed a smile as I caressed his cheek. "Can I still be your Queen?"

"Always," he said, now grinning. "It is your right."

"You'll need help running a Kingdom," I elaborated. "And someone to keep you company during court sessions."

He hummed in relief, pressing his lips against my temple. "What changed your mind?"

"I…" I closed my eyes to word the answer accurately. "I had a realisation… I can only keep you safe by being at your side. Leaving you to do this alone will only put you in more danger. It's one of the reasons why I helped you with the rebellion."

"Your concern is incredibly touching," he assaulted my lips with forceful kisses, almost lulling me into a trance. "I know this isn't the future you envisioned for both of us."

"It doesn't matter anymore," my lips curved to comfort him. But on the inside, I felt a pang of pain. "We have to make do with what we have. Right here. Right now."

"Speaking of making things…" he started, a guilty smirk lighting up his face.

"Lucifer…" I warned.

"Would you ever want to, you know… give me a child?" he chanced a question.

"I would love to bear your children," I admitted sincerely, looking him in the eye. "But…"

"I- I get it," he cut me off before I could talk about the inevitable backlash. "But just… think about it. We used to be so worried about what the others would think or say but now… we can do whatever we want. They've already decided that they should disregard us."

I exhaled. "Let's focus on one thing at a time, alright?" I suggested.

"Okay, okay," he relented. "Just imagine, though. A little 'us' running around." I chuckled at the thought, only feeding into his enthusiasm. "I could show him – or her – how to fight. You'd teach them how to read. When the time comes, it'll be three archangels on three archangels…"

"No child of mine will fight in any war of yours, King of Hell," I calmly cut him off.

"If it please you, my Queen," he sighed. "Not even one?" I glared at him. "Fine…"


Again, I found myself on earth. This time, I felt like a new person. I'd shed the baggage of the past, mostly anyway. Though I did feel more whole after reconciling my feud with Lucifer, the ambiguity of my identity still remained. I'd built my whole life around discovering truths and it felt so dissociating to be suddenly divorced from it. And because of what? Trying to find the ultimate truth – the mind of God Himself? As I found out, this… held greater consequence.

I had departed from my favourite forest, now emboldened with the spirit of discovery. I roamed deserts, oceans and mountains. There was a solace in feeling the grand scale of everything. Living creatures were made so tiny but their homes were so huge, like palaces built for royalty. Life itself was something to be treasured so this made sense. I liked earth. Despite the focus on humans that Heaven would have, it was actually a pleasant place to be. In any case, there was a significant portion of the earth that would go unnoticed simply because humans weren't there. This allowed for my uninterrupted strolls, which I greatly enjoyed.

On one such stroll, I came upon something interesting. There was a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. Floating above the sandy continental mass was a glowing spark of some kind. Strange. I'd never seen anything like it before. Its light was celestial, unbefitting of a terrestrial realm like the one earth was in. Not that celestial objects could not exist in this realm – it was usually of angelic origin. But this object… I had never seen it in Heaven. What angel could have made this that I wouldn't be aware of? Again, not that this was impossible. It was simply unlikely.

I approached the spark. A soft ringing noise grew louder as I drew closer, like an invitation. That's when it dawned on me that this thing was other-worldly. It just did not feel like it fit in with the universe. It felt more like a ruptured fabric, a fissure in time and space, according to my intuition. It was not supposed to be there. All these inferences came to me at once even if I wasn't sure what evidence I possibly had to think this way. It was the feeling you'd get when you just knew something but you didn't know how you knew it. A nagging voice in the back of your mind warning you of what lay ahead. Typically, that voice would warn of danger. But looking at the spark – its light so bright and pure – I could not doubt it that way.

My hand reached out. The spark was receptive to my presence, undulating with my hand. It appeared to be attracted to me. I touched it and it burst like a bubble in a bright cloud. A wave of energy caressed me. A series of images invaded my mind, showing me a reel of familiar concepts. Patterns of evolution? The object seemed to have contained information. I was taken by a daze, surprised by the experience. This random sighting of an unknown celestial object happened to reveal to me a crucial piece to the puzzle of the evolution of life on earth, which was information privy to only God and… myself. How did this end up here? And to think that if I hadn't stumbled upon it when I did. Were there more? Information left out in the open like this… it wasn't good. It was possibly dangerous. If it was discovered by the wrong people, it could be used in the wrong way.

And wasn't it my job to stop these things from happening? A bolt of nervousness coursed through me, threatening a shudder. I felt possessive of this celestial object. I needed to protect it from unwanted attention. As I returned my attention to where the Fragment of Light, as I called it, was, I found nothing. It had disappeared. Perhaps my making contact had returned it to oblivion, where it should be. There was a silver lining, after all.

I roamed the earth again, this time on the lookout for more of these fragments. Surely enough, one popped up in sight. But this time, I wasn't alone. I took cover behind a large rock, staying as quiet as possible as I peeked around the corner. I saw the fragment floating high and mighty in the sky, blaring a signal so distinctly that I was aware of its existence from miles away. However, I'd been beaten to it by a group of fallen angels. I saw them, mischievously smirking and lurking as a crowd. They seemed to be looking for something. Had they come to investigate this mysterious fragment as well?

My breaths raced to a crescendo as they neared the fragment. Disappointment that I could not save it from their unbalanced minds bubbled to the surface. But as I watched, they simply marched past it as if it did not exist. I didn't know whether to feel shocked or relieved. Maybe confusion was the appropriate response. How did they not notice this loud, illuminated object in the sky that just begged attention in every way? Was I the only person capable of seeing them? When the coast was clear, I collected the fragment and stared at the direction in which the angels went. What were they doing on earth anyway?

I followed them with a safe distance between us. Some time later, it became obvious what had enamoured them so much. They were headed towards a human settlement. The encampment had several tents, radiating outwards from a central fire. It seemed the humans had multiplied quickly as their population number seemed to have recovered from the debacle in Eden. Adam was among them, looking aged with the lines on his face and greying hair. As the first to fall from grace, he would also be the first to die a natural death. But he wasn't the focus of the angels. They seemed to be observing all of them and the Grigori as well, like some kind of reconnaissance mission.

In that case, I decided it best I not disturb. The best person to question regarding these things was sitting on a throne in Hell, so that's where I went next.

Torches lit up on the damp, dark walls of the corridor upon sensing my presence. The grim agony resonating in the atmosphere was a stark contrast from the silent and colourful grounds of Earth. I found a door and upon entering it, I found Lucifer seated on his intricate throne at the far end of the room. I approached him, noticing that he appeared to be in deep thought, with his eyes directed to the wall and chin resting on his knuckles. Bored, more like. Upon spotting me, his eyes lit up and he approached. "Where have you been?" he asked.

I sauntered over to a small decorative table overlooked by a pair of crossed daggers on the wall. "Earth, as usual," I sighed. I turned to face him to continue the conversation but found myself immediately bumping into his solid chest. Before I could make some kind of remark, he swooped me into his arms and silenced me with a kiss. It wasn't an ordinary kiss either. It was deep, ravishing and knocked me positively off my feet. Heat surged through me in flashes and before I knew it, I was kissing him back too. Had I not regained my senses, I would have completely succumbed to his temptation. That Devil. Finishing a kiss but deeply persuaded to continue, I stopped him. He stared in mock confusion, as if those crimson eyes were innocent of all crime. "What are you doing? Someone might see us."

I glimpsed in the direction of the doors to the throne, though still a prisoner of his arms. Typically, the Fallen loitered about, doing whatever it is they wanted to do. Anyone could see us here. "Sophia, I will make love to you on the damn throne if I please," Lucifer firmly stated.

I gaped. My mouth opened and closed a few times in shock. How was I supposed to proceed with conversation after that? "Please… don't…" I weakly muttered. My words seemed like a lie compared to the redness I felt in my cheeks.

"There's no point hiding it now anyway. We're as damned as damned gets," he reasoned. "It can't get worse. It's literally the only good thing about this."

"It can always get worse," I cautioned. I took a deep breath to shake off the shyness and pull away from him. "Anyway, I saw something strange today." I recounted to him my discovery of the fragment and what I thought of it. He listened intently, eyebrows creasing and hands folded. "… so I don't know. What do you think?"

"I think… that you need to let go of the past," he said blankly.

"What?"

"Love, do you see what you're doing? You're cleaning up a mess because you think it's your job. Your 'God-given' duty," he grumbled, complete with air quotes. "God kicked you out and stripped you of authority. You don't need to continue serving Him."

"This isn't about 'serving Him'," I retaliated. "It's my responsibility to the universe. I am the Keeper of Knowledge and I must protect the universe's secrets."

"No, you were Heaven's Keeper of Secrets. Not anymore," he disagreed. "Let it go."

I frowned. This was absurd. "No!" I crossed my arms defiantly. "I won't stop until I get to the bottom of this. And I need your help."

"Alright, fine. No need to get upset," he held up his arms in surrender. I hadn't even realised I sounded so snappy.

"Sorry," I apologised. He simply blinked and nodded. Alright, that'll have to do. I led him by the arm to earth. Once there, I looked for another fragment. This one was atop a mountain range. "Do you see it?"

Lucifer squinted in the direction of my gaze. "See what?" he asked.

"That!" I pointed in the direction of the fragment. Again, its light was so bright like a microcosmic star and it radiated the dull ringing noise that alerted me to its presence. "You don't even hear it?"

"What am I supposed to be hearing?" he seemed sincerely puzzled. It was a cute look on him and one I often saw when I talked about my work.

"Okay, so that proves that only I know they exist," I pondered, eyes transfixed on the spark as I further contemplated it.

"Are you sure you aren't just… seeing things that aren't there?" Lucifer worried. He felt my forehead and neck with a hand as if to check my temperature. "Are you alright? Maybe it's the Fall or… Hell?"

"Yes, Luci, I'm fine," I sighed, pushing his hands away. "What could it be?" I neared it. Letting my curiosity get ahead of me, I simply walked around it in a slow circle. Perhaps observing it from more angles would reveal an insight. "Feels a little familiar in its energy signature if you ask me…"

"You know, you're letting Him win this way," Lucifer lamented again. "You're letting Him think He can just expect you to clean up His mess."

"It's not His mess," I declared.

"What?"

"I said, it's not His mess. It doesn't feel like His energy," I informed him. "It reminds me of me, actually. What if this is my mess?" I grew visibly worried. "Then I must clean it up."

"How?" Now he seemed flustered, like I was silly for even thinking such a thing. "How can this be your mess? Explain that to me. When did you do this?"

"I don't know. Stranger things have occurred to creation," I rebutted. "Like the Fall of two archangels from Heaven."

"What have you brought onto this earth but beauty and nature?" he questioned. "If that were to cause a mess, don't you think these fragments would have shown up in the past few billion years?"

"Hmm…" What he said made sense. The natural course of time would have exposed such flaws resulting from my actions. "What if… this was caused by something recent? And what would have the power to release such fragments into the universe?"

"Well, that certainly narrows things down," Lucifer remarked dryly. "And by that, I mean it doesn't. At all."

"Sh." I needed to think. "What did you say happened to Eden again?"

"God snipped it out of this realm," he answered, doing a scissor gesture with two fingers. "He brought down His divine scissors and glued it somewhere else. I bet they don't have a fancy throne there."

"All that creation… just gone to waste…" I muttered under my breath. "All that effort…"

"He probably couldn't handle another reminder of how much you loved Him, let's be honest," he speculated, thoughtfully stroking his chin. "Imagine looking at Eden every single day, wondering why you put the archangel who helped you make such a beautiful thing in Hell…"

"What about the Tree?" I realised. "What happened to my Tree?"

"Oh… about that…" Lucifer hesitated. "I didn't want to tell you earlier…"

The way he was nervously rubbing the back of his neck made me nervous as well. "Tell me what?"

"It- It's gone, alright?" Lucifer blurted out. "It's… destroyed. Dead." My heart shattered at those words. I must have appeared evidently mortified because he came over to comfort me. "Sorry to break it to you. I know how much it meant to you."

"That's horrible," was all I could say. Lucifer rubbed my back and I leaned my head onto his shoulder. "How could… ugh… This makes me so mad…"

"Oh He's done it now, hasn't He?" Lucifer noticed. "Is that all it takes to make a patient angel sour?"

"If you think you can use my anger for whatever it is you want to do…" I warned.

"What, show God how ridiculous He can be sometimes? Tell me you don't want to," he argued. "Tell me this doesn't make you realise that we need to do more."

"Now's not the time to discuss this," I dismissed. "So the Tree was destroyed. What of its essence? God said it was a unique life-form."

"You think it's causing this?" he probed.

"That would explain why only I can see it. But it should also mean…" A new thought surfaced. A prediction. I needed to test it.

"Mean what? Finish your sentence," he demanded.

"Sh. Just- just stand here, alright?" I led him to stand directly underneath the fragment. "Close your eyes." He obliged, obscuring his red irises. "Tell me, do you feel… anything?"

"No," he sounded disappointed, arms folded.

"Give it time. Really open your mind to the universe," I instructed. He took in a deep breath. Some moments passed. I waited eagerly and just as I was to give up, his eyebrows furrowed. "What is it?"

"Sh." I frowned, not used to getting shushed. "I'm getting something. An insight." He held up his finger to beckon me to wait. "Something about… geology? This is so strange. It's like this information is just hanging in the air, waiting to be plucked like-"

"A fruit?" I completed his sentence. He opened his eyes, puzzled as ever.

"Yes," he exhaled but still remained in awe. "I guess we've gotten to the bottom of this mystery."

"So God didn't actually destroy the Tree?" I guessed.

"Does it really matter? He ruined it and now the 'fruits' are everywhere, ripe for anyone to harvest. What. A. Mess," he complained. "Get angry, Sophie."

"Anger is meaningless," I argued. "It doesn't get anything done."

"I beg to differ," Lucifer replied. Now that I really looked, he seemed more like himself again. I wanted to rejoice internally but I remembered how easily his mood could swing these days because of the Mark. It was difficult to tell if he was getting better because the Mark always sprung surprises on us like that. As quickly as my enthusiasm had arisen, it faded away. I would just have to cherish these short moments whenever they graced my existence. "Speaking of, it's my turn to show-and-tell."

Sometimes I hated being right.


"I had an idea," Lucifer said. We were back in Hell and he brought me into some arena where there was a large open space surrounded by a gallery to spectate. What exactly was this intended for?

"Those words worry me," I told him. "Why'd you build this place anyway?"

He bared a toothy grin as he extended his arms out to emphasise the grandeur of the place. "My very own fighting pit. For when I'm bored," he boasted. "I always thought Heaven could use a bit more brawling."

"You've never mentioned that," I pointed out.

"Yes, because my brother would fault me for 'being unprofessional' and 'glorifying violence'. But come on, a good fight is a necessary fight," he tilted his head at me.

"If you say so," I simply answered. I was neutral on the whole topic. Lucifer was a great fighter – one of the best – and he had a great passion for it. I suppose it made sense that he should think this way. Funny how eternal damnation allowed him to live out his dreams. "So your idea…"

"I sent some of my soldiers to retrieve something for me."

"Is that what they were doing? I thought they were just spying on the humans," I questioned.

"So you've seen them, then. Yes, that was also one of my orders," he nodded. "Ah, there they are."

Through a large door to the arena entered a group of them, all solemnly silent. They had those hoods up which I'd seen them have in the dungeon. It was quite eerie, seeing the angels so tame when I knew they were capable of being the vilest with a moment's notice. What darkness lay behind their suffering eyes? They didn't come empty-handed. One of them carried an unconscious human woman, dangling from his arms as naturally as gravity allowed. They managed to kidnap her? Surely, the Grigori must have noticed. I turned to further inquire about this situation but Lucifer was gone from my side. My gaze flipped back to the arena. He appeared among them.

The air grew still. The angels placed the woman on the ground and formed a circle around her. They stepped back to leave the King himself alone with her. The Lucifer I saw in that pit was not the same one who was standing next to me mere moments earlier. I felt the Darkness calling out from the curse on his arm, sending out waves of a cry to be heard. It was times like these that made me question who was really in control here – was Lucifer's impulses feeding into the Mark, or was the Darkness seeding these thoughts in him? His expression was like a wall – nothing could be read from it. He simply watched the young woman as she lay on the ground. She soon roused, eyes crinkling as she regained consciousness.

The first thing she noticed was how cold it was. Her hands instinctively moved to rub her arms to warm them but only clouds came from her breath. She even moved to pull her wolf-pelt garment around herself more but soon came to the horrific realisation that it had been taken from her. She lay a naked creature, ready to be reborn. Then she understood blindness. Her eyes blinked several times first in disbelief that there was nothingness as far as the human sight revealed. What appeared to us so clearly did not register at all to her. It must have been disconcerting for her to wake up in a void of space.

The angels murmured something among themselves. The woman let out a shriek of pain and rushed to cover her ears with her palms. The angelic frequency of existence could be too overwhelming for the human senses, if not channelled right. What the angels were saying was largely uncoordinated, but from what I could tell, they were cursing her under their breath. "Curse", I say, but to them it was a blessing unto her.

"Shush!" Lucifer hissed, annoyed. The angels fell deadly quiet. The human's head rose from where it was buried between her knees. Her body shook, her cheeks were damp, and her lower lip quivered. All this building tension only fed into their lust for fire.

"W-Where am I? What's happening?" she stammered. Her voice was brittle and choked. I saw an angel's eyes so beast-like that he would have probably devoured her if his King had allowed it. A common bloodlust ignited them. It was evident in the way they stood, arms and fingers tense and ready to pounce. Some licked their lips, in anticipation of the sweet fear the she reeked of.

Lucifer knelt down to her level. Within a split second, she'd caught his flaming gaze. It was the only light she was allowed to see. The way he looked at her… he knew exactly what he hoped to accomplish. His thin smile was sinister and curious at the same time. I knew that smile. Nothing good came from that dastardly smile. "What is your name?" he asked with a serpentine tongue. Her head jerked up, trying to find a face to identify. But she would see nothing.

"L-Lilith," her soft voice echoed. "Who- Who's there? Where have you brought me?" she asked with ever-growing nervousness.

"Shhh… you will get your answers soon," Lucifer promised. "Today is the day you will be reborn, Lilith."

He started small. With a touch to a forehead, she only saw death. Her chest rose up and down irregularly, heart racing at an inhuman speed as these visions took her by storm. Her every sense, her every thought was invaded with nothing but images of human death. Murder was born as an idea in her head. What it meant permeated her every being – the ability to take another's life, to cause them such devastating pain and to watch the life fade away from them. She was forced to contemplate it with no relief in any avenue except the one that pushed her limits further. The poor thing curled up into a ball to escape her mind to no avail.

"Do you know what depravity means?" Lucifer prompted her. "Know it now."

He let this go on for quite some time until she trembled less. It was like she had just given in, letting herself get carried away by the violent current of thoughts that ambushed her mind. This was a human being at the lowest form of dignity. A human who could no longer distinguish between good and evil. A human who cared less and less, wanting only for the torment to stop. But there was still an inkling of resistance in her. There was a small light in her that still wanted to be good – something that told her she wasn't right and things had to be different. And if I could see it from my distant position in the gallery, how clearly must it have appeared to Lucifer…

Lucifer snapped his fingers. Instantly, shackles bound themselves around her wrists. She cried out for him to stop but her words were irrelevant. Now that she knew what suffering looked like, she could only imagine what it meant for her limbs to be spread out and her body exposed. Lucifer manifested a lash in his palm. This one was different from the one I'd seen before – it had little spikes along its length, intended for double the pain. That was really telling to me. Every detail about this place was his idea. Being here, watching him… it revealed to me things I had never known he was capable of. Perhaps on some level it frightened me. If he was like this now, how much of this had brewed inside his head before the Fall? How much of this disturbing portrait was born within him right in front of me? A voice in the back of my mind told me it was probably best to stop him. But this depravity, as he put it, wasn't something one could come back from. That much had been made clear to me in Hell. Once you'd felt the freedom of this sickness, how could you want anything less?

He brought down the whip. Her scream pierced the silence. Her wrists struggled to react to the wounds on her body but the shackles strictly forbade them. The barbs on the whip dug into her skin, drawing blood like a fountain. With every breath, she only whimpered more for release though it must have become obvious to her by now that this was just the beginning.

Lucifer drew back his arm swiftly, yanking the whip out of her. And so it continued.

I hadn't realised just how noisy of an affair torture could be. Personally, I'd taken a back seat whenever such things occurred. The archangel brothers were kind enough to shelter me as long as I wanted from these sorts of things, until necessity made me take up sparring lessons with them. After all, an archangel was meant to be Heaven's greatest warrior; its mightiest weapon. Now I watched an archangel become Heaven's most terrifying adversary. One without limits. One without guilt or shame. One who couldn't be stopped by kinship because he had been created this way by his own family. Could I really fault him for this?

As it turned out, Lucifer had more instruments readied for this very purpose. An assortment of knives, maces and spears were brought to him and he relished the use of every one of them, taking his time. I could have sworn that he chuckled to himself in delight at the thought of how creatively he could use them. With every whip of the lash and every cut of the sword, Lilith's body arched from the pain as she yelled for it to stop. Soon, she was but a limp mess on the ground, alive but wishing for death to take her away. Her tears mixed with blood where it escaped wounds on her face. The cuts on her body cried crimson life, each spurt refreshing patches of dried blood.

Watching the muscles of his back contort to draw back whatever weapon he held made me grow numb. Every second this went on made the image of him fade away in my mind. I felt like a stranger, unable to understand how he was capable of this. I thought back to my earlier encounter with the forest animals. Was that what it was like for him? I had felt a nonchalance about the creatures but him? He wanted a crusade against the humans. He wanted to destroy every single one of them in as violent a manner as he could imagine. This wasn't just a test to see how far she could go – it was revenge. And I had failed to prevent this atrocity. The atrocity, not of this woman's torture, but rather his madness. His descent – his metamorphosis – into something utterly unrecognisable. If God was watching, He must weep at the sight of this monster that His son had become.

Wasn't that why we were in Hell? Because we couldn't stop it? Because… I couldn't stop it? It was my responsibility and I failed. A bitter taste grew in my mouth.

The angels, on the other hand, cheered at her agony, only adding to it with their incomprehensible frequencies that hurt her ears. Lucifer's enjoyment, on the other hand, was not so outspoken. He did not need to show it, for the Mark on his arm was indication enough of a deep dark desire being satisfied. The poor woman was kept in this state for hours on end until, as a final act of abuse, he delicately reached into her solar plexus, exposing the bright light of her soul.

"The human soul – God's most prized creation," Lucifer announced. "So bright and ripe with energy… It would be a shame if something were to happen to it."

The angels grew quiet as they beheld the sight of that pure, powerful energy seated within every human being. It was crying to be released from this pain, fighting with every ounce against the beating that broke Lilith's spirit. This was the highest in the hierarchy of torture. Above the mental and the physical, there was the spiritual. The very essence of being that made existence possible. Lucifer twisted it, bent it, crushed it with all he had, using every part of him to distort every part of her. Lilith howled a bestial scream so deep from within her that it must have decimated her fragile vocal chords. She thrashed about in a pool of her own blood. The blood was everywhere and all over her. The dried smidges that crusted her jaw fell apart as her mouth twisted into a maniacal smile. Her screaming did not stop. It evolved into something else – a fervent, hysterical laughter that rooted from her belly. The soul… turned black.

"Let the black light guide you," Lucifer instructed.

"Black light guide you! Black light guide you!" the angels chanted, howling and raving in celebration.

Lucifer let go and she fell back, motionless. Her eyes were half-open, pupils rolled back. The abomination that was once her soul fought to occupy her once again. When it got its way, her eyes welled up with a black colour. It became clear that Lilith was no longer human. With a gasp, she shot up to a sitting position. Though she panted heavily from what she'd been through, terror no longer eclipsed her face. It looked more to be wonder. She watched as her wounds healed on their own, though she still looked dishevelled with her hair sticking to her body where blood had dried. She tried to stand up on her own. With a thought, she undid her own manacles.

The obsidian orbs she had for eyes now found targets. She could see us. And she wasn't terrified.

"My name is Lucifer," he introduced himself. "Hell is your home and I am your King. Pledge your allegiance to me."

Lilith wordlessly sunk to her knees, eyeing him with utmost awe. "Hell is my home and you are my King," she monotonously said.