The Day the Earth Ended

The day had finally come: the apocalypse had finally beset Earth and my children were coming home, those that prayed and asked for forgiveness that is. I watched as the most beautiful of my children laid waste to the lands that had not a month ago bore fruit and sustenance to carry my children into their unknown future.

One by one, each child stepped up to the pearly gates, and I watched as Peter cast my judgement upon each soul. The young, the disenfranchised, the bullied and the disabled of course were expedited through a secondary gate that, when a “normal soul” tries to pass through, that soul is then flung into the pits of Hell for trying to sneak into Heaven. Peter is quite the gatekeeper, knowing exactly what I know, and discharging soul upon soul in the correct direction, whether up or down.

Some souls are not ready to accept the end of the world and are thus cast into that white nothingness that is known to my children as purgatory. Purgatory is quite a weird place even for myself, but as time rolls on, souls either make their decision and come up to the gates, or slump down into Hell, because they believe they are not worthy of my good graces; it is sad to see some of those depart to the underworld as many of them are in fact worthy of my kingdom.

Time continues on as my Lucifer continues to wipe out soul after soul. He has made it to the very last thousands. They huddle in fear and I feel their pain, their anger, their frustration and so much more. All I want to do is help end it for them, but unfortunately as God, I can do no such thing. Unfortunately, they must wait for their demise on their own.

I watch as my son took out the last few until there was only one... just one. She stood there, staring my son down. I realize I must find out why this soul is so unafraid of the Devil incarnate, and made the decision to travel down to the final showdown and figure out the situation on my own.This was the first and only mistake I had made in four thousand years.

The time had finally come. My father’s war with myself, and those who detracted from his wretched treatment of his “most beloved creations” was finally at an end. The crust of the Earth split open on every major continent and my minions spewed forth from the pits of Hell. For each human currently on Earth, there was at least a hundred demons to kill them.

Once the judgement of Peter was done, any soul that was cast away from Heaven like I was so long ago, was greeted by a demon and escorted down to Hell. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a bad person. I was cast from the White City, because I didn’t like the thought of my father making a whole race of controllable sentient puppets. And so, on the day that father created the first two, I turned into a snake, and presented the one called Eve with the option of having free will; I presented her with the opportunity to defy our father. In doing so, I had sealed my fate: I became the lord of the damned.

The killings went on for months, my minions tracking down every last human until I had finally gotten to the last thousand or so. I personally sought them out for the simple fact that they had survived so long. I had decided these few would be revered in Hell if they did not make my father’s dogmatic “cut” for the White City. The last and final few were in my sights, killing has never been my forte, but to get this eternal struggle over with, I was prepared to do anything.

Finally, I had come to the last soul, a single female human. She stood tall, even though she was only about five, three. She stared as I flew in and landed in front of her, her fists were slightly clenched as if ready for a fight. I was suddenly scared. I approached her and laid a hand on her shoulder. Pain, nothing like I had ever felt before, spread through that hand and up the arm and I quickly jerked my hand back.

A rustle of feathers told me dearest dad had arrived.

I watched as the most beautiful son of God amassed his army of demons and flung them out into the world. I had to watch, it was my job. Each and every person who left this life I was there for. Unbeknownst to God and Lucifer, I am the true totality of all, I am Death.

Soul after soul, I am there to usher them into the next phase of their life. Yes, every soul must pass under Peter’s judgement, but I always found that to be arbitrary and benign. Who’s to say who should go where when a person has just passed through the most traumatic experience of their life. If it was up to me, everyone would be in the Poconos after they died just for a little R&R until they passed onto the next phase of existence. Alas, such decisions are not up to me, I am merely a shepherd to the masses of the dead.

The final few have just been taken out, and now I am the only one left. Lucifer finds me and flies down to face me down. He approaches and lays a hand on my shoulder. I watch as he twinges and swiftly withdraws his hand. Can he tell? Does he know who I am? Before either of us can ask any questions though, his father God lands beside him, a smirk of bemusement splashed on his face.

God turns to his son, “having trouble there, Luci?”

“I told you never to call me that father,” Lucifer shoots his father a dark look.

“Oh come now boy, you know I only jest. What is so wrong with this mortal that you cannot simply sheer off its head and be done with this crusade against the living?”

“She’s... cold father.”

They both speak as if I’m not there, so I clear my throat to draw their attention. It takes a few seconds, but then their eyes are both centered on me. “Neither of you knows who I am, do you?” Both shake their heads, slightly confused.

To amuse myself, I decided that I would produce a riddle on the spot. “I have been here since the beginning, I watch and I stalk until the time is right. When it is, I am there to help every living soul onto the next phase of existence.” Still puzzled looks. Honestly you’d think an all-knowing and all-powerful god and his only begotten son would understand a quite obvious riddle. “I am Death, dearest God and Lucifer ruler of Hell. Neither of you are here for me, but instead, I am here for you.”

Shock. Honestly that was the expression I expected. “Now now, you boys didn’t really believe you were the ‘be-all-end-all’ did you? No no, it is I that must pass judgement upon you.”

“That is preposterous,” God flings at me with a small amount of spite, “I am the beginning and end of creation, the alpha and the omega. How dare you tell me that I am to be judged at your feet?” He moved towards me and put both hands on my shoulders. He too felt the icy flows of the river of Death and pulled back immediately. “This is a joke!”

“Oh dearest father, I knew a day would come when you would get your comeuppance. I just didn’t imagine it would be from a five foot three girl.” Lucifer turned to me, “it is a pleasure to meet you Death. I would shake your hand but we both know what happens when I touch you. So, what shall I be judged for?” His eyes were inquisitive and to a degree, I felt pity for him. I knew that all of this was a shock to both of them but he seemed to be recovering quickly as opposed to his father.

“I think I shall judge your father first.” I turned to God and cast a dark look, “God, did you or did you not create humanity with the sole purpose of being sentient puppets for yourself?” He merely smirked. “I’ll take that answer under advisement. And did you or did you not cast out your own son for trying to free humanity from such a torturous existence?” Another smirk, this one tinged with a small grunt of disbelief. “And finally, did you or did you not set up a blanket doctrine of arbitrary and dogmatic rules for your creations to follow and then let them suffer because they couldn’t live their lives stringently to those rules?” This time, an audible exclamation of anger. “Ah, I thought so.”

I turned to Lucifer, “Lucifer, you have fulfilled your duties as the ruler of Hell for these millennia, shepherding the Damned to the underworld and providing them understanding and care in the face of being cast from your father’s city. You have punished the wicked as you saw fit in the wake of their crimes against other humans and in doing so, attempted to bring about a balance to the cosmos.”

Lucifer looked at his father snarkily; God was red with anger. “Now you see that the two of you have played each other’s roles when it comes to the afterlife. Lucifer, henceforth you shall be readmitted to the White City and stand at the head of a council determining the fate of said city to the end of time. As for you God, you shall take his place in Hell watching over those that have caused more harm to man than good. All souls in Hell that were cast there because of your shitty fucking rules will be remitted unto the White City.”

God was in shock and his son was beside himself laughing. “I told you you were a right prat thinking that your rules would be a good thing for mankind. And now look at you,” God had slumped to the ground, his hands covering his face, “you’re a fucking mess dad and I don’t blame Death here for doing to you what you did to me all those millennia ago.”

Footnote: The attached image is known as Lucifer by Franz Stuck. I do NOT own the copyright to this image.