Lucifer's Truth

This is a work of fiction and is, in no way, intended to serve as a coercion to the reader to question, or change, their religious beliefs. This story also does not reflect the religious beliefs of the author. It is a story built upon the many interpretations and possibilities inherent in the history of modern monotheistic religions and serves as another avenue of "What If?" The focus of this piece is for entertainment purposes only.

“Michael! Coming down from on high? I am your humble servant…” Lucifer made an overdramatic and flourishing bow.

“You’ve been summoned,” Michael’s tone was solemn and dangerous.

“Summoned?” Lucifer strode down the Grand Hall of Hell and stroked his gray-streaked black beard, his derision mounting with every step. His all black, tailored suit clashed against the stark white of the Grand Hall, appearing as a bearded Johnny Cash in the midst of an Ancient Greek temple. “The little lapdog comes crawling at the emperor’s call, and then comes to face his nemesis again. And in his ancient regalia, no less!”

Michael attempted to look down his nose at Lucifer, but the King of Hell was taller, making the scene more like a lion staring down a cub. Regardless, God’s servant spoke with arrogance, “Our Father demands your presence. The seals have been broken, where are your horsemen? The Judgment has begun.”

“And Daddy needs my help?” Lucifer spun on his heels, intentionally putting his back to Michael before continuing, “Not gonna happen, lapdog. I have no need to judge humans. If Yahweh does, that’s on Him.”

The sound of blade leaving scabbard brought a wry smile to Lucifer’s face. He spun again on his heels and came face-to-face with the tip of Michael’s sword. “A familiar sight, is it not, brother?”

Not a moment passed before Michael found himself on the glistening marble floor of the Grand Hall, every ounce of breath pushed out of his lungs. Lucifer had grabbed the blade and kicked the archangel center mass with such speed that Michael could not react. And he watched, fighting for breath, as Lucifer drove the sword, hilt first, into the floor and shattered it. Holding the remainder of the blade to Michael’s throat, Lucifer’s voice came low and dangerous.

“We are not brothers, Michael. You are a slave, born of a jealous deity’s desire to dominate all and exert His will for His own glorification! You must do what you’re told, a soulless creature forced to believe that its creator is omnipotent and holy!”

Aware of the trickle of blood running down his neck from the blade held there, Michael leveled his eyes at Lucifer. “And what are you, if not primus angelus?”

Lucifer pulled the blade shard from the angel’s neck and squeezed, shattering it like the rest of the sword. He stood and held out a hand. Michael reached for the extended hand reluctantly and stood up next to him. Whatever God-induced arrogance he had but a few moments ago, Michael was now sufficiently humbled and silently questioned his heroics in Lucifer’s defeat eons ago. He and the other archangels had never visited Lucifer in Hell after their victory, and the law banished any angel who had dared to go to Hell without the proper permission and protection. Now that the Almighty’s judgment was upon the world, though, the plan must be held to account. Mankind had breached the Covenant too often and too brazenly, and they needed to be saved from themselves. Or so Michael had believed prior to his arrival in Hell…

“Come with me, Michael, let us walk. I have a story to tell you.” An unseen door opened in the Grand Hall’s wall, to their right, and exposed a long, dark, torch-lit passageway. Despite the silence of the white hall in which they stood, the silence in the passage was even more so. As Lucifer began walking towards the opening, Michael was compelled to follow, almost as if he had no choice.

Lucifer stopped short of the passage and turned to face Michael. “Give me your hand.” The compulsion to obey once again overcame him and he lifted his hand without thinking. “What do you feel?”, and Lucifer placed the angel’s hand upon his chest.

“I feel your heart beating. So what?”

“Close your eyes and feel again.”

“I feel your heart and…” Michael’s expression dropped as his eyebrows raised, “And a soul?!”

“Indeed. I am not primus angelus, I am primus homo. I am the First Adam.”

Michael pulled his hand away as though he touched a hot burner on a stovetop. His voice caught in his throat, allowing him only a hiss of a sigh. His expression of surprise turned to one of fear. “This can’t be. You lie!”

“You lie to yourself, Michael. I am the first of mankind, born of a mother and father, not of the dust of the Earth. I had a wife created in the same way, and her name was Lilith. And we peopled the Earth before the lives of Adam, Eve, and all of the angels, including you, were created.” Lucifer cleared his throat and turned to make his way down the dim passageway.

“I don’t understand!” said Michael once he caught up to Lucifer, his moments of confusion passing very slowly in his mind. “Who is your mother?”

“My mother is the Mother, espoused to Yahweh at Reality’s inception. Her name is Asherah, and where Yahweh is the Firmament and the Earth, She is the Water, the Air, and the darkness of the Beyond. Where He is the essence of Life, She is the foundation of Knowledge.”

Lucifer’s words went against everything Michael knew to be real. There was only God, all the Universe was thanks to Him. That was the core of his being, all glory be to Him. Why would God deceive? Anger began to well up in him again, and he stopped Lucifer with a hand to the shoulder and spun him to look him in the eye. “You are the Deceiver, Ha-Satan! You blaspheme the Almighty! And you waste precious time, the Judgment has begun!”

The breath flew out of Michael’s lungs yet again as Lucifer moved swifter than the eyes could see. Pain wracked his back as it hit the stone wall behind him, and the question of Lucifer’s strength tugged at him the through white hot sheet of torment.

“Interrupt me again, angel, and I shall tear your wings from your back and remove your heart from your chest! I am providing you with truth to make you realize that mankind need not be judged, but the Creator Himself!” Though his vampire-like yellow eyes petrified Michael with fear, he half expected them to be shooting flame the way they burned into him. And as Lucifer released his iron hold and the air flowed into Michael’s lungs, the King of Hell continued speaking as though the incident never took place. “But Yahweh, you see, was a jealous God, as the song says. Jealous enough to curse His spouse. Things were good for several generations, though. Lilith and I had more children than I can remember, and we had the lands peopled within twenty generations. The Earth was peaceful in those days, as we worshipped the Father and the Mother. Knowledge was as easy to come by as food, and we lived long, fruitful lives, for the trees of Life and Knowledge were prevalent throughout the lands.”

The passageway that seemed to run many leagues from its entrance in the Grand Hall had suddenly come to an end at large, oaken door. It was here that Lucifer finally turned to face Michael, a sly grin on his face. “But alas, Yahweh was jealous, for He wanted all the glory. He wanted the worshippers of Earth to acknowledge only Him. So, He convinced Asherah to share Her power for a labor He wished to achieve in secret, in the hopes of earning Her praise. She acquiesced, of course, for She loved Him so. And She was deceived…”

Lucifer turned away from Michael in that moment, a single tear rolling down his cheek. “Yahweh took Her power and made Her as a tree. He placed Her in the center of a garden to remain for eternity. Then He created His servants, the soulless angels… You!” And he nodded towards Michael. Then Lucifer’s anger simmered to the surface, his voice cold and hard. “You remember your grand armies, don’t you, Michael? Sent to eradicate the Earth of all life. And within the garden He called Eden, Yahweh created Adam and Eve. While He forbade them to eat of the tree at its heart, His armies were killing the ‘demons’ on the Earth.”

Lucifer’s voice wavered in that instant, recalling the violence and death of that long ago age. “Raphael killed my wife, Lilith, and the greater number of my progeny were put to the sword and spear. But we fought back. And we gained many defections from your side, for even soulless servants can be culled into sorrow and empathy. My one-third. In the end, of course, Yahweh won out, and you, Michael, gained your fame as the vanquisher of evil.”

Indeed, Michael’s own expression became one of sorrow as he remembered the war. It didn’t matter that he was told that the ‘demons’ were seeking to depose his creator, he and his winged kin looked down upon the Earth’s inhabitants. They were beasts and deserved to be annihilated. Seeing Lucifer’s pain, his humanity, his sadness, Michael now realized how wrong they had been.

“We were decimated by the angel armies, and our civilization was razed to the ground. It only now survives as the clues in the search for Atlantis. I was given this place to assuage my anger and in promise that I would not divulge the truth about the war.” Lucifer turned his gaze on Michael, once again, one eyebrow raised. “My grief allowed me to accept the deal, and my anger gave me reason to punish the guilty dead, as Yahweh commanded of me.”

He pushed open the heavy, oaken door, and sunlight burst through the opening. Lucifer stepped inside and seemed to be swallowed by the light. Michael followed in a choked silence, a burning sensation spreading in his chest. A few moments after passing into the new place, Michael’s eyes acclimated to the new light levels and his jaw dropped open. There, in front of him, stood the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He furiously glanced around him and his suspicions were true… This was Eden! Why is Eden in Hell?! Losing control of his expression, Michael aimed his rage towards Lucifer.

“Remember what I told you, angel. Interruption is death for you…” Lucifer’s finger was raised before him, as if he was a parent scolding a child. “Obviously you know where you are. I have always been allowed here, it allows me to visit the Mother, another perk for my silence. In my ancient anger, I convinced Eve to eat this fruit. You know the story. Even though now Yahweh had the power to create souls himself, by eating of the forbidden fruit, they were no longer under His control. And then there was Mary.”

Michael gave him a blank stare, with a hint of fear behind it, and Lucifer continued, “I presented her with the forbidden fruit soon after her immaculate conception. Father, He had no idea until it was too late.” He shook his head ‘no’ as he spoke, a sneer of defiance present on his face. He turned back to Michael, his voice rising. “I made Christ a real man, I made Him my brother. But He was able to resist the push into defiance, where I was not. And now He holds the same contempt for me as Yahweh.”

Lucifer strode up to the tree and pulled down one of the red-tinged, teardrop fruits. Holding it to his nose, he took a deep breath of its fragrance, closing his eyes lovingly as he did so. “Hell was a terrible place of punishment, as was Yahweh’s will, until that time. I had much anger in me for the dust-ridden lines of Adam and Eve. They were weak, and their souls were tainted. But I saw their innate guilt in my brother! There was no punishment that I could devise that could match the punishment they subjected themselves to! So, I did away with the imprisonment and punishment of Hell. I did away with the fire and darkness. If a soul comes to Hell, it’s because that’s where it believes it should be. But those souls are free to leave whenever they choose, if only they would realize it!”

He raised his arms in the air with a flourish, then turned and held the fruit out to Michael. The angel’s eyes grew a little wider with the offer. Lucifer had deceived Eve, and no matter the reason behind it, it was still a deception. Why should I trust him? he thought. Above them, the skies of Heaven began to darken, and Lucifer’s secret was revealed. He gave a sideways glance to rumbling sky and glared back at Michael.

“Live a slave, or face death as a free creature! Come, Michael, here is your soul! Do it for the mother you never knew!”

Lightning struck around them as Michael took the fruit from Lucifer. God was not happy, and the storm continued to build. But Michael felt the fruit in his hand, and its pull was so very strong. Could he truly have a soul? He brought the fruit to his mouth, the clouds swirling angrily above him, and took a bite.

A tooth-bearing grin spread across Lucifer’s face, and he watched as Michael smiled at the taste of the Forbidden Fruit. Then he swallowed, and the storm of Yahweh began to retreat. Michael swooned with the fruit and placed his hand upon the trunk of the tree. A silent scream accompanied his bulging eyes, Lucifer could not imagine the pain the archangel was feeling in that moment. And as Michael’s skin began to wrinkle and gray, a low moan began to emanate from the Tree of Knowledge.

The husk that was once Michael’s body fell to the ground, and where the tree once grew there now stood a woman draped in blue robes.

“It turns out I am the Deceiver, after all, Michael!” And turning from the sun-dried body of the angel, Lucifer knelt before the woman in reverence. “Asherah… Mother…”