I: Created Before Creation

Lucifer. I could hear the name being spoken in my ear, a soft, gentle, yet commanding voice. It was the voice of a Father, and it didn't just enter my mind – it consumed my body, my very essence. I somehow knew that just a few moments ago I had not existed, but here I was, floating in the ether, a lone body in the void. I was completely limitless: I knew no bounds, depended on nothing, nothing in the universe, save one thing: Him. My Creator, my Father, my Friend.

There were but two things in the universe, and I was the second. The first was all around me, everywhere at once; the void was completely empty, yet full of his all knowing, all loving essence. He existed at all times, in all places, in every way possible. While I was created by Him, He had always existed; He had no beginning and no end. He was completely independent of anything, for he created everything.

The Bible says, in Genesis, chapter one, verse one: "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." But before the beginning, he created us. He created me.

I was the first of all his creations.

"Lord."

I felt my mouth form the syllable, my first word, my first praise of his almighty power, and knew that it was only the beginning of our eternal friendship.

I sensed the emptiness in front of me shimmer. Although there was no light yet, no way for me to physically see what He was showing me, my eyes recognized an image anyway – no force of physics could restrain him from showing what he would, because physics as such did not exist yet.

Already, he chose to appear as an old human; my mind boggled at how ancient he must be to already be as old as this when I, his first creation, had just come into being. His eyes appeared to be blue, a clear, shining blue, but as I watched, the color shifted slightly, ever changing, and lit with their own power. His face was wrinkled and old, clearly full of wisdom. I know that He had a body, but at this point I could not see it; my eyes were locked to His, unable to look away from the piercing, loving gaze He had fixed on me.

"Lucifer. I name you Lucifer. You will be the greatest of all my creations. You, you alone, will wield power close to that which I possess. You will be the one being that will help me in all. You alone of all your brethren will have free will, and the power to rule over all but me." He paused, then whispered, "Do you accept this charge?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but hesitated only a moment, not from an unwillingness to accede – no other thought had ever, would ever enter my mind but to serve Him – but from the sheer magnitude of what was happening. It took me that moment to fully comprehend what this pledge meant not for me, but for him. He had already created me, and in so doing, had consciously given me the ability to choose my actions for myself. I already possessed nearly all the power that He Himself had…yet he was not forcing me to serve him. Had I so desired, I could have rejected him immediately. I could have taken all the power he gave me and forged an existence of my own to contend with his. I could have ruled the universe, my universe. I could have been God.

"I accept this, my Lord. I accept. I will always be here to serve you. Always."

His eyes filled with tears, and He embraced me. There, in the void, before the galaxy or anything in it had yet been formed, before there was anything in reality but the two of us, He expressed His love for me, and I expressed mine for him. I could sense His apprehension, His anxiety that perhaps this being He had created, this being He had shaped from nothingness with the sheer power of His mind and heart alone, would defy Him. The realization that I had just he had made eons ago, when the thought of creating a servant such as I had first entered His mind. Yet here I was, that very servant, the exact way that he had envisioned, with all the power and all the free will that he had intended for me.

And I had agreed. This, the moment He had been dreading, the moment He had been afraid would prove to be the undoing of all that He had yet to make, had gone exactly as He had hoped, better than He had hoped.

Lucifer. Once again, I felt His voice, felt it resonating within me even as I felt His arms around me, and I felt joy. Joy, and a longing to serve, to prove that he had in fact created perfection, a being with free will that would still do nothing but good, nothing but the best. Lucifer. I love you.

I could feel the tears streaming down my face. I had existed for only a few moments, although since time had not yet been created, it could have been for all eternity. In my mind, however, it had only been a few minutes, the first few instants of an existence I knew would literally last forever. Even so, I already knew that these first few instants would be the most cherished memory I would ever possess. God, in his infinite wisdom and mercy, loved me. He created me first, he risked all for me. I was his only creation, and I would forever be his most loved.

With my cheeks covered in my own tears of joy and His, I responded. I put all my essence, my very heart and soul into the words. All I heard was my own voice, muffled by the fabric of the robe the Creator had adopted, but I knew that if it was at all possible, he could feel my response echoing throughout his essence. Though my mouth ejected only a few whispered syllables, my soul cried them out such that the entire universe, had it existed, would have heard them, would have felt them in their hearts.

I love You, too, Lord. And I will always, always be Yours. Always.