Fallen Angel (working title)

Earth felt the pain of Heaven through the storms that raged on its weathered surface. Yet another would be cast from paradise, and the world would be the one to feel the extent of his despair. He stood, ripping at his captors, his attempt to slay the one who ruled the Heavens led to his immediate capture and failure. His words, like thunder, still crashed down to the Earth. "Revenge!", he screamed deep into the skies, each word shaking the very essence of the universe. The ethereal beings that held him bowed down to the great one who slowly came towards the still thrashing wretch. The great one’s voice broke out into the sky and silenced the wind, "I gave you paradise, you gave me hate. I gave you love, you gave me hate. I gave you a second chance, you gave me hate. Your despair shall no longer be others; it shall be your own! I cast you down to the very evil that you desire to bring. Take a look around! Look what you have thrown away!" The great being turned his back on the one that hated him more than any other. The pitiful creature looked to himself; the beautiful wings that once surrounded his body began to shed their perfect feathers. The clouds that held him above the world below fell out, he had been cast from Heaven, and Hell was his only destination.1

The light from above had died down to a mere pinprick in his now blackened sky. His fall from grace burned his now imperfect skin, as each feather was ripped from his back and fell slowly down beside him. He could see the eyes of the Angels above glaring down at him, and he could feel the eyes of the demons seeing right through his hollow shell from below. While in the mix between good and evil, the hall of purgatory, he felt a deep calm that he would never know again. Soon this feeling left, the speed of his decent had increased, and all but a few feathers from his once glorious wings were gone. The heat from the depths of his new home clawed at his back, it was as if he was destined for all of this, they were waiting for him. His eyes shut as his body crashed into the hot ground, he was home.2

Moments after crashing down from above, he opened his eyes once again and took a long look around. The screams engulfed his mind, each one reminded him of what he had given away, but not even an eternity of pain would make him take back what he had done. The God that had created him tried to make the world a savior, but his soul had been tainted from the begging by the will of Lucifer. He had yet to know this though.  All he knew of was a deep hatred he had for his creator, and nothing could take that away from him. He also did not know that Lucifer was well aware of his arrival, and he had been planning his destiny before he even knew of his life.3

He was still lying on the ground, but after his thoughts of revenge on the one who made him passed, he dealt with the pain from the fall and stood. The entire time he was in Heaven, he knew that he would end up here, and it was worse then that of which his mind could conceive. Bodies were strewn upon slabs of rocks; demons stood over them with primitive tools ripping the flesh from the bone. Others were found trapped in an eternal flame, their flesh was burned to beyond recognition, and their screams echoed in and out of control. Cages lined the walls; each cage was inhabited by a single soul. A black spirit walked between the cages, its white eyes pierced even the darkness that dwelled inside of that place. In one of its disfigured arms was a twisted staff, which held a pentagram upon a stone on the top. While patrolling the cages it would lash out a mist upon the occupants, and it would make them tear at their throats and chest until they were crimson with blood. Before he could prepare himself for what other torture they might have, a demon came from behind him and thrust a spear into his back.4

Cold blood spilled from the small of his back, the beast ripped the spear out and thrust again, this time between his shoulder blades. His screams were not unheard, but like the suffering of all in that place, they were ignored. The beast behind him tugged at the spear and then thrust it into the ground beside his body. By now, he was clawing at the ground in a feeble attempt to escape his slayer. The creature crouched down beside him and spoke, "He has been waiting for you for some time now. The pain you have felt now is only the beginning, you have failed him, and you will suffer for it." Using what was left of his strength, he looked up at the beast. Its eyes were sunken deep into its skull, but they still shone through with a dull red.  The flames burned the skin that covered its body, but the color of gray could still be seen in it. The creature then realized that he was not about to talk, so he picked the spear from the ground and forced it into his spine. The beast then continued to drag his body on the ground and take him closer to the center of Hell, to Lucifer.5

The wounds on his body stained the blackened ground red as the beast dragged him nearer towards the greatest evil. The spear was still resting deep in his back. He clawed to free himself from it, but whenever he would struggle the demon would only push it farther in. He screamed softly at the demon to just kill him, but he knew that he would never get his wish, his soul was trapped here. The suffering of the forsaken spirits became greater as the center came closer into their view. Screams were now muffled by their own pain, even the strength to utter a single word had been taken away from them. All thoughts of others pain died away, along with his own, when his eyes met a pillar of the most hated souls spinning endlessly up into the never ending sky. In the center of the tower of souls, sat Lucifer.6

In almost an instant, the spear was taken from his back and his body was left just outside of the cyclone. The wounds on his body formed a pool of blood around him, and the constant stare from the eyes of Lucifer only made his pain more unbearable. He tried to crawl away from the stairs that lead to the massive beast, but his body was too weak to move. He could hear the creature behind him stirring from its resting-place, coming towards him.7

As the creature made its way closer to him, everything seemed to just stop. The screams off the in the distance turned to silent cries, and the flames that purged from the ground were a mere breeze. Evil, in its purest form, stood over his battered body, yet at this moment he never felt more at home. The strength suddenly found him, and he used all that he could to turn his body over and look into the face of his captor.8

He expected a giant, a form so disgusting that just a mere glance upon its body would destroy your very soul. His features were that of a man's, his body of a normal stature, and nothing about him in particular seemed even in the last bit unusual. The creature began to speak in a calm tone, "Centuries of pain have brought you here, your task was at hand and you failed." The creature's voice could not of been human, it spoke as if the souls of every person in his lair were screaming from within. He then turned around to show the scars on his back were his own wings were. He spoke as turned around, "As you can see, we are one of the same. From Heaven I fell, creating this place. Since that day, I have been waiting for you. It was your destiny to be tainted by my spirit when God bore you, which is why your hate for him is where it stands. You never truly knew your task, but deep in the depths of your mind a little voice, my voice, was telling you want to do all the while." His voice shifted to deep scream, "Everything was in place! You failed me! You fell back to the prison that I hoped to escape!   You are worthless. Thousands of years may pass until another chance such as that comes along, and until then, you will suffer along with the worst of the mortals." The creature then started to make its way back towards the large chair in the middle of the cyclone of souls. He stopped right before he entered his paradise of torment, his eyes turned back towards the pitiful worm on the ground and with one movement of his hands the tainted flesh rose from the ground. Levitating in the sky, the pain that his wounds had brought seemed to all but leave. This sense lasted for a mere moment. Lucifer then shifted his hand to the side, and the body, which floated in the air, flew off to its fate.9

His mind awoke to find nothing but a fear greater than he ever knew could be felt. The deep blue in his eyes shifted from wall to wall; there was nothing here except for other like him. He saw them all lying on the ground, each with their own pain, their own demons. Silence is all that could be heard. The screams that had decorated everywhere else in this place could not be found only silence. His eyes moved from the dismal room back towards himself. The wounds that he had suffered at the hands of that sullen beast were no longer open and festering, but were now nothing but mere scars. He noticed as the others realized what had happened also, each with their own cheer of praise. "My pain has left, we are saved!", screamed one of the disillusioned souls lying on the ground. One by one, each of the spirits in the room stood to their legs and began to explore their cage. He was the last to stand, because he knew that peace was not found here, only lies and deceit. "Thirteen", he spoke to himself softly as he counted at the other beings in the room. 10

The thirteen of them, fourteen including himself, formed a circle in the middle of the room and began to speak quietly with each other. Their names did not matter to him, but he did learn that each of them had also met with Lucifer and he had also told them of a most horrible fate. "This place is my only memory, all of my loved ones, if I ever had any, have been struck from my mind", spoke one of the scrawny spirits who had obviously been here for some time. Despite the constant hunger for some kind of human contact, he would never get too close to the others. This torture that Lucifer spoke of could not just be the fourteen of them conversing, but he seemed to be the only one who came to that realization. His thoughts were his only company, and it seemed an eternity that he stay, trapped, with the others. The other thirteen beings paid no attention to him, they only continued to dwell on the slight companionship that they had found. His thoughts turned from thoughts of escape, to thoughts of silencing the spirits in which he hated. Every waking moment that passed, his eyes turned to them and dreamed their deaths. The whole while, Lucifer was watching him, waiting for the moment in which this pitiful being would lose what was left of humanity and heaven. For when that moment would come to pass, his own eyes would grow shut and a new heir would possess the throne.11

As the thirteen grew closer, his heart grew a darker shade of black and he envisioned that each would meet death most foul. He hoped that Lucifer's promise of a punishment so severe would soon grasp them all up and make the love that those beings had found leave forever. As this hatred became stronger, a burning began to engulf his soul, and the power that had been hidden all this time began to emerge. In what seemed to be a matter of seconds, new wings burst forth from the scars in his back. These wings, though, were not pure and white; they were black and sculpted by evil. The thirteen beings that sat away from him screamed at the sight of his body shifting to a form that none had known, but all had seen. With the dark wings in place over his body, the remaining flesh of his body was shed to the ground and was replaced by a void of shadows that never seemed to end. The being that was being put into this new state felt nothing of it, that is, except for the new-found power that was now coursing through his blackened veins. The humanity that drove him to death was gone; the piece of heaven that threw him to this place was also gone. This savior, this demon, was finally complete. Lucifer looked on as he saw his own blood form into something much more powerful than himself, and he knew that in short moments his grasp of this domain would be no more.12