Читать книгу War of Wings - Tanner McElroy - Страница 14

Lucifer spent the next two days taking his years of pent-up jealousy and anger toward God and letting it out on this new environment. He had decided to name this world Terra, after her. It was his to name, after all. The dense area of trees was now a barren wasteland. Every animal within a hundred miles was gone. It was good they ran. If trees could be separated from their life source, perhaps animals could too. Lucifer was almost ready to find out.

He felt as if he were discovering a newly found gift that God was keeping from everyone. When Lucifer destroyed the trees and other plants, he could feel the subtle energy they gave off before the life inside them was gone. Some clung on more tightly than others, and he could feel the fight inside them. They could struggle all they wanted, but they weren’t in control. He was. He respected the ones that fought harder. If the roles were reversed, he would fight the hardest. He knew that.

Lucifer felt powerful and he felt a great deal of rage, but he also felt thoughtful, as if a part of him was watching everything that happened with cold detachment. He took careful notes of his thought processes on the rock and in the sand beneath the plush green. He named his new power wrath, and the third of the seven deadly sins was formed.

The second sin he had discovered, envy, was formed toward God not too long before this rampage, and Lucifer quickly realized it was all throughout Heaven. He took pleasure in this feeling because it gave him a sense of power. It gave him the fuel he needed. It fed his drive to get even. He knew envy was something many angels felt toward him, but it had never been defined. He knew they envied his position in the ranks, and he would use that to his advantage.

The most powerful of all the sins was discovered first. Pride. Without pride, he would have succumbed to God. He loved that he hadn’t. Lucifer kept track of these sins as he discovered them. They were like precious jewels. He realized quickly, without shame, that there was power in each of them. He was the only one who truly had a hold of who he was. He knew himself and he knew other angels. He knew their deepest desires that had never been spoken of. They were subtly expressed, but in almost every being in Heaven, Lucifer had glimpsed those traits, and he meant to bring them all out.

The heavenly virtues that God held dear helped guide Lucifer to their polar opposites. God was well-known for his virtues—chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility—and Lucifer was intent on discovering the antivirtues that were the exact opposites of these. Why was there more power in wrath than patience? Why was envy a stronger motivator than kindness? The opposite of humility gave him pride. The opposite of charity gave him greed. He felt proud of them and wasn’t done searching for more.

He wanted to find the coldest place on this new formation and rid himself of God’s warm, bright influence so he could think. He went into the mountains as far north as there was land and dug his way as deep as he could go. He spent much time traveling across the solid land mass and discovered countless places that attracted him with their wild, hostile forms. Lucifer found glacier caves that suited his needs perfectly—deep in the ice on the northern side.

As he discovered the answers he was seeking within his antivirtues, he realized not only who he was but also the truth of everything in the cosmos. Now he alone had discovered the physical realities that made up the universe. With everything he learned, it pushed him further away from his faith in God. He saw imperfections on Terra. The fact he could control life made him realize God wasn’t the only powerful one. His reason and his faith contradicted each other. He began to despise warmth and light and instead yearned for cold and dark. He found comfort in it.

It was time for a change. He devised a plan to make the change a reality amongst the vast corridors of Heaven.

Time came and went. Lucifer had stopped keeping track of it. One day, he saw Saraquel hiding. He was crouched behind a hill of snow, but Lucifer recognized his stringy black hair sticking out.

“Saraquel.”

The black hair disappeared behind the hill.

“Saraquel, I saw you.”

“Forgive me, Lucifer!”

“Why are you hiding?”

“I am amazed at your power. I couldn’t turn away. You told me to find you.”

Lucifer reached out his hand as he approached, and Saraquel began to bow.

“No longer bow your head to me. You will become my brother this day if you will accept what I have to say.” Saraquel’s eyes grew wide, and his mouth dropped slightly. It was a moment or two before he could speak.

“Of course, Lucifer. Please tell me what you would like from me.”

“I want nothing from you except for you to make your own decisions based on the knowledge I am about to give you.”

“Yes, sir. I can do that.” They began to walk across the snow, and Saraquel fell into step beside him.

“Let me ask you some questions, and I want you to answer as honestly as possible. The throne that you had built for me, by what means did you construct it?” Lucifer asked.

“Well, I had my angels work on it for me—in your honor, of course.”

“And they followed your commands because you are an archangel and their leader, correct?”

“Yes. They were eager to serve you as well.” Saraquel twisted his hands together.

“You had them build this for me. Why?”

“Because you asked me to.”

“Why would you listen to me?”

Saraquel paused. He began shaking slightly in confusion. Finally he answered, “Because you are the highest cherubim and it brings me great joy to serve you. Was I not supposed to, your highness?”

“Yes, of course, you were, because of the order of things between the angels and the tiers of power. I am above you.”

“Your virtues surpass ours, and there is no shame in praising you.”

“Thank you, but who truly says that is how it has to be?”

“God does. I am as God made me, and that is how it should be. We all have our roles to play. I live to worship Him as my unique self and in my unique way.”

“What if I told you that you could be a throne, a seraph, or even take my place as the highest cherubim right now? Would you take it?”

Saraquel visibly hesitated, like it was a trick. “God made me who I am. I am content.”

“I am your friend, Saraquel.” Lucifer felt nauseous at his own words, but if his plan was to work, he would need support. It might as well begin with this pitiful angel. “You are in a safe place. I see the desires in your heart, and they are more than you say. Does it not sound intriguing to be more than God has made you?”

Saraquel looked away. “I am an archangel, that is all I will ever be.”

“That is all you will ever be according to God.” Lucifer waited until his gaze came back and forced a smile. “I say you can be more than that.”

“But God made the classes of all angels. He wouldn’t let you change that.”

“What if I told you the rules were arbitrary, that His rules are based on His deceit?”

“I wouldn’t believe you. God loves us. Why would He lie?”

“He doesn’t love us,” answered Lucifer calmly. “He uses us and lies to us. Look at who is on top. Who sits on a throne while you take orders in Heaven?”

“But He created us.”

“That is what He would have us believe. Let me ask you this. How does a tree or a plant grow and bear fruit? Where does it originate?”

Saraquel answered quickly. “It starts as a seed. Then it grows until it can bear fruit.”

“What if I told you that I have a tree that never started as a seed? What if I told you it just always existed?”

Saraquel squinted his eyes and took his time with his answer. “That would not make sense.”

“Yet that is how God explains Himself. He claims to be the only One that never had a beginning: a tree but never a seed.”

Saraquel stood silent. Lucifer could sense his heart beating fast and his mind racing wildly. He almost had him. “I know how you feel. I too was disappointed when I first accepted this truth. But the disappointment will soon pass. These are hard questions, and I do not know all the answers either. But I do wonder why God has one set of rules for Him and another for us, yet we were supposedly made in His image. If you figure it out, will you let me know? I believe the glory of God can only be magnified by our understanding of His great design.”

“He tells us to have faith in Him, so that is what I do.”

Lucifer’s eyes lit up with energy. “Think of what you just said. How do you fool the masses into believing something? You make them believe in you. Then you tell them what to do and they do it. What if God has done that to us?”

“That is impossible.”

“Is it?” Lucifer saw on Saraquel’s face that he was teetering on the brink. “God speaks of the importance of wisdom. Why then does reality contradict His very teachings?”

“I don’t know.”

“I know you don’t because no one can answer that. And the only one who claims He has an answer says He had no beginning. But I asked Him personally. He simply says, ‘Have faith.’ Well, no thanks. Not anymore. I encourage you to think for yourself. Don’t let Him do it for you. It’s time for a change in thinking. And that time is now.”