Hello again lovely readers.
FIRST, I made edits to last chapter. Nothing significant, but basically forgot to add in the part about what Mephisto conjured, which was his cell phone. But it's there now if you feel so inclined to read over the whole 3 sentences, lol.
So, this chapter takes a bit of a different perspective, dealing with Lucifer and Samael's backstory, and this A/N is about an essay long because it deals with my take on a plot hole in the B.E universe, and thus requires an explanation: If Satan is Satan, then who is God? Is there even an analogy to "God" in this universe?
To answer this, I went with the closest character that B.E has to the Christian/Judaic God and went from there: Shemihara, the Emperor/God of Creation (I think that was ch. 95 in which he was mentioned by Lightning). I am up in the air about the information presented about him in ch 98 right now, so will be leaving that off for the time being.
*Sigh* I promise I am almost done!
Regarding this chapter specifically, there is mentions of the Biblical story of Lucifer's fall – in this case, modified to partly tie into Shemihara and partly tie into Satan, because of the burning of Lucifer's wings in the original story. It's hard to explain it through the eyes of the character himself, because of his disposition, and so I will say in advance that for the purposes of this story, that Satan and Shemihara both wound up punishing Lucifer on different grounds, but at around the same time.
There is a, as I am sure has been noticed, dark undertone to Amaimon and Mephisto's relationship, and nowhere does that show through more than in the next two chapters, so I dole you an early warning on that one.
A/N is officially DONE!
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CH V: The Paradox of Creation
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"When hazard players finishing their game
Go each his way, the sorry loser stays
Repeating every throw and sadly learns,
While with the winner all the rest go off;
One walks in front, one tugs him [the loser] from behind;
From either side, palms thrust importunate.
He pauses not, but heeds one each in turn,
And as his hand goes out, they fall away,
And thus he guards himself against the throng."
~ Divine Comedy, "Purgatory", Canto VI, Dante.
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"Lucifer-sama, it is time for your evening bath." commander Todou alerted. The demon King didn't bother to turn to face her, enthralled with the events playing out on the tele screen in front of him. He watched his siblings from the camera installed in the tiny cell-room, pleased to have some form of entertainment to keep his busy mind preoccupied. He had the volume turned down low, though he could still hear it just fine, not that there was anything to hear now anyway. He watched with interest as his siblings met one another with a challenge, expecting it to blow off as loose steam the way things usually did between Samael and their younger siblings. He was not, however, expecting for Amaimon to stand his ground against the King of Time. Though Amaimon was largely considered a punk, with a temper appropriately considered to be volcanic, he was not the type to fool himself with false ideals or aspirations of grandeur. He was realistic, and Lucifer admired that about his little brother. He knew where and how he stacked against his siblings and usually didn't bother to cross the line in the sand. He didn't aspire to be any larger than he thought he was unless it became a requirement. He was competitive, true, and a sore loser. But it was all in good fun to him – always in good fun. It made it easy to cut him slack for being cocky, being as childish as he was – not unlike the Okumura brothers, in fact.
But one thing Lucifer didn't quite understand was why Amaimon kept to Samael as often as he did. Between the opposing factions the two of them represented, he and Samael, Amaimon was neutral, taking neither side. But it struck Lucifer as strange that his little brother adored Samael so – not because he himself disliked him, no...No, his personal feelings didn't have any bearing on it. Amaimon was the King of Earth, so it made sense that he would want to defend Assiah, since he was an inadvertent product of it's creation.
But Samael was one of the Masters to whom Death itself answered – the King of Time wasn't himself deathless, in spite of that, but it made killing him quite hard, since he existed and failed to exist at the same time. Omnipresent was the adjective, if he remembered right. Everywhere and nowhere, in all times in almost all places, but in none of them at once. He could teleport almost anywhere into almost any time, and if necessary, could revive himself by using the host body of his future self in some alternate reality from which his absence was not particularly consequential. He had no control over the events that happened within time or space, per-say, but he could observe them from afar if he was paying attention.
This ability of his made him difficult to deceive or trick – there was always a running risk that he already knew what you were going to do, had already seen and been to and prepared himself for that future reality. But there was a flaw in his power, one which landed him most likely here, in Lucifer's clutches: he could see the future, to some extent, but could not predict which future would come about with absolute accuracy. He was also predisposed to picking the most likely reality based on his own sense of ego, which meant that any reality in which he lost something or failed was one he either worked relentlessly to alter, so that he would succeed, or paid no heed of whatsoever if he felt it was a logical improbability.
Lucifer could see this as being a probable reason for Amaimon to linger by his side – Samael offered Amaimon a golden window into the future or the past, if he was willing to pay the price to be had for the information. However, it struck Lucifer odd still, that someone who served the Emperor of Creation would also serve the Master of Death. Of course, Lucifer himself also once served that Emperor. He was a son of Satan, as many of them were, but his ability to conjure and control light made him a prime servant for that higher god.
And serve Shemihara he did. He did not often choose to dwell on the thought, but could admit to finding some small comfort in the nostalgia. Back then, he really felt like a god. He could shine his light upon the earth, upon all that lived on or in it, and they all loved him. He was the brightest star, the highest in the rank –
Except that he wasn't.
He remembered now with some amount of melancholy how the God of Creation cast him away, throwing him down, down, down to the ground without so much as a second glance. All he'd wanted was for things to be made right – for him to be able to shine like he should, at the top of the celestial altar, overseeing everything. He wanted to oversee everything, to be involved and to receive that inspiring praise, that loving adulation.
But his aspirations were met with a rigid hand across his face, a slap from the cruel reality of things. He could not shine like he wanted to, could not climb that ladder without disrupting the peace. He could not be as he felt he was meant to be, and grew resentful of his master. One day, that resentment broke through, and on that day, that fateful day, a younger version of himself fell a long ways down the ladder, breaking every rung on the way down so that he could never, ever rise up to that power again.
Lucifer felt his fists clenched, and released them forcefully. His father hadn't been terribly upset when he came back home, battered and bruised, and in fact mocked him for it. Lucifer sighed at the memory. He really had been a fool back then, hadn't he?
Samael had warned him, he reminisced with a bitterness on his tongue and a sweetness in his chest. The devil's right-hand had told him it was a bad idea to try climbing that ladder again, but he was too young to listen, his pride too wounded. At the time, it had seemed to Lucifer as thought Samael had been telling him to do nothing about his battered ego, something which sparked a sense of distaste from him, for wasn't that awfully hypocritical of him? Ah, but hindsight is full-sighted, as they say. Lucifer allowed a bittersweet smirk to grace his pale face. He'd been right, of course. Of course Samael had been right. Lucifer's expression fell as he thought about it. Of course he was right.
He never should have dared to cross Father. He was told so. But damnit, he wanted it! He wanted to be given attention, to be loved by the humans as the other gods were. He was alone back then, alone and abandoned. The humans hated him now because of his foolishness. He was the inspiration for evil, a concept he was never fond of nor bothered to associate himself with. He was hated then, too, or else loved for all the wrong reasons.
After Father punished him for trying to rise against him, he truly was alone. Not a soul, demon or otherwise, would dare to visit him. They were all afraid of Father, that they would be branded traitors if they made contact with him. His brother Astaroth, once his best sparring companion, turned to him blind. Ariel, his own son, abandoned him the moment Shemihara did, staying at the side of that being over him, his own father. He had spoken to him after his fall, but stopped communicating with him the moment he lost his wings – oh, his wings! He sighed, the sound too loud in the quiet of the room, his golden chamber – the nearest to heaven he would ever be again.
There had been one person, though, he recalled with some amount of greif, who was there. Samael was the one charged with his care after Father's punishment. Despite the pain and the suffering, Lucifer really couldn't bring himself to hate his father. He'd done what he had to do to get the point across to his younger, rebellious self, and to make a point to Shemihara that his boy would never go seeking to obtain his throne again.
Lucifer sighed once more as he focused again on the television. Samael, having put Amaimon in his rightful place, now feasted on the spoils, on the boy who's soul he'd already swallowed and who's flesh would now sustain him as well. Lucifer scoffed lightly, smirking. And he called Amaimon a glutton.
His smirk became a frown when he recalled the memories they shared. Samael had become a temporary servant to him after his punishment, Father's only condolence or apology for what he did. Having his younger brother serve him was interesting, to say the least – Samael was a firecracker far worse than he was, and was equally just as rebellious. Perhaps that is why Father had assigned him, Lucifer thought. The boy had needed a lesson, but had done nothing worth punishing him for just yet at the time.
Having only Samael as his company in otherwise grueling solitude, he formed a unique kind of attachment to the then-child that was Samael. Even after his punishment and isolation had ceased, Samael and he continued to be a part of one-anothers existences. Oh, they had argued, each just as stubborn as the other, both of them competitive and fiercely proud. But even when they disagreed, they always found a way to make it up to one another, through gifts, through entertainment, through touching or even sex; they were two sides of one coin. Mephisto was the darkness, the melancholy moods that would grip them both, the solace in the silence and the slow, steady beating of their hearts whenever they bothered to lie with one another. He was the shadow, the ticking of the clock as it passed by, yet never really went anywhere. He was there, constant and steady.
Lucifer, conversely, was there, but not always so obvious, preferring to take the back-roads or to keep to himself, perpetually sulking in the misery of what he used to be, but just didn't have the drive to want anymore. He was still the King of Light, however – he drew people to him, like always, but never got the same feeling of adoration as he used to. He was always there, in one way or another, but it just wasn't the same without Samael. "You can't have light without it's shadow," Father used to say, somehow pleased to see his children getting along as well as they (sort of) did. And indeed, Samael was like a little shadow to him for several long centuries, going with him as Amaimon now did with Samael – like a puppy searching for a master to bathe it with attention and affection.
But all good things must come to an end. Lucifer, being ever as ambitious as he was, couldn't sit by idly and watch the rift between the humans who once loved him and his fellow demons grow wider and wider. Shemihara had begun to take matters into his own hands – already at odds with Satan, he threw fuel into the fire when he began to mitigate the demons of Gehenna, no longer welcoming their company or their praise. Father, knowing that Lucifer was still bitter about being cast aside, turned to him for an opinion.
But as usual, he wasn't the only one to have one. Samael did not agree when Lucifer proposed an act to put Shemihara back into his place, nor did he agree that humans and demons should live in harmony, being a demon who had long preferred chaos over order. Father left it to the two of them, his primary advisers, to determine what was best.
It was ultimately their undoing.
Samael, taking matters into his own hands, went into the human world in the guise of a prophet, and preached to the humans the dangers of his own kind*. He drove the wedge farther and farther, for years doing nothing but stirring up the mud at the bottom of a perfectly clear lake, clouding the eyes of not just the humans, but demons too. He gathered followers, claiming to be the savior of humanity, when really all he hoped to save was his own ego.
And so progressed a feud between them that had yet to resolve. Lucifer was made once to go to war for his ideals, and it did not dissuade him now, though he would gladly have made them happen any other way.
Lucifer watched Samael on the screen, finishing his short-lived meal. He ate, likely not from hunger, but for display purposes. The more dominant the demon, the faster they got their turn when sharing a meal. Samael technically ate first when taking the child's soul, but ate again just to prove his point after putting Amaimon in his place. There was, however, another reason he ate – a telling one that Lucifer, who had spent a chunk of his sibling's life by his side, knew how to spot. Samael truly was a bit of a glutton, but he ate the most whenever he was in a state of internal unrest. His feasting was a tell for Lucifer – a tell that said Samael was scared.
He watched the screen with the slightest tinge of pity. Locking a demon in a box until they went crazy was not often considered to be acceptable even by demon standards. Doing it to someone he once knew well, who he was once legitimately bonded to...he had to admit, it was not the easiest thing he had done. He did not regret his decision, for he was fundamentally incapable of the feeling in the human sense of the word – but he didn't feel particularly happy about it either. Some part of him knew there would be literal hell to pay for this, from Samael, from Father, and from the Vatican. But if it gave him the time to conquer his goals, or to pass them onto someone who could, then it was worth it.
He had already resigned himself to his fate if Samael escaped, as he knew his little brother eventually would. He knew he would come, that he would kill him. And he would not fight. If Samael came for him, he might not be able to. He was partially immune to Samael's power – but only partially. When time stopped, he would not – but all that did was ensure no collateral damage was done. After all, Samael was the Master of Death, and death comes to all in one way or another – even Life itself.
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Ok, so that was interesting to write.
Yes, Lucifer is technically stronger than Samael, but I feel like when he is trapped in a human body, which can barely contain him, that Lucifer and Samael might be met by one another on more level ground.
Also, in case you missed it, because I am aware not everyone is as hip on quantum physics as I am:
Light Time. As concepts, light can exist even where time can not – however, time can not exist where light does not, because time is fundamentally measured with light. (day/night). Similarly, Life can exist where death does not (kind of – by way of immortality, be that spiritual or physical) but death can not exist where life does not. This is the Paradox of Creation. You can theoretically have life without (natural) death, but you can't have death without life.
Similarly, you can have light where time does not exist, in theory, but you can't have time where light does not exist. (At least by human standards). Ergo, the conflation here between Life/Light and Time/Death.
And before it is said, you CAN have light without darkness, and darkness without light. The middle of a star has no darkness in it; Vanta Black painted in a room removes 99.9% of visible light no matter how bright it is. You can shine the brightest LED into a Vanta Black room and see absolutely nothing. (but anywhere the light touched would get very hot very fast). If it didn't conduct heat like a MoFo, with direct exposure to sunlight making the stuff basically vaporize itself, you could probably put the sun inside a Vanta Black space and see nothing but a very dim, greenish glow. (it would still be hundreds of millions of degrees, however.) That stuff is SCARY!
Aufwiedersehen! Reviews are welcome!