Once upon a time in a land far, far away there was a God: One God. This One God was very kind and just. He was full of patience and life but most of all, He was full of love. He was love. God lived in a place that was completely free of imperfection; this place is an indescribably beautiful kingdom known as Heaven. God made angels to live with Him in Heaven so that He would not be alone.
There was one angel, Lucifer or Son of the Dawn, whom lived in Heaven with all of the others. Lucifer was gorgeous, his broad wings made of strong yet soft, white, feathers that were far more impressive than that of any other angel. Look at how beautiful I am, Lucifer thought, The only one in the whole kingdom who can surpass my beauty and glorious light is the King: our Father.
This simple thought soon grew into something bigger for every time that the Son of the Dawn saw his Father, he could only think one thing, Hmmm…. He’s not so big and great. I could ascend into a position even higher than His. These thoughts started a burning passion within him to be the Most High. The thirst for power had begun.
Lucifer spent all of his time feeding his sick obsession by creating things of his own: weapons. He’d discovered something rather nifty when it came to creating his tools of war, he made one rule to it all: whatever God made, he’d do the opposite. If God would write a word, Lucifer would write it backwards. The opposite of generosity should be greed, humility became pride, life into death, and love – hate.
But then, the next day all of the angels rejoiced, for God had created the Earth in a mere seven days. This tore away at Lucifer’s soul. Yet again, the Lord had made something better than him without even trying. NO! NO! He screamed at himself within his thoughts, This will end! I deserve his place! I am greater! All of Heaven will bow at my will!
So Lucifer sought out an audience with God. The Lord graciously accepted saying, “Of course! I would love to see my dear, Morning Star.”
Then Lucifer entered through two huge doors that were ornately decorated. Inside there was a huge throne adorned with galaxies, seas, and flowers of every kind. It almost seemed to be alive as the clouds in the sky moved as the time of day went on, like a giant clock that shown when the sun comes up and when the moon shines at night.
Upon the throne was seated God, His hair long, thick, and white. His hands strong, large, and firm, but at the same time gentle. The thing about God that was impossible to ignore though, was His sparkling, kind, emerald-green eyes. Even while sitting down, the Lord towered at least seven feet above Lucifer.
Michael, a fellow archangel was in the room with God. His wings were layered with sharp metallic feathers as sharp as knives. He was watching Lucifer intently for his brother had not been acting like himself lately.
“Welcome, Morning Star! What is it you wish to speak about son?” The Most High One’s voice seemed to come from every direction and fill the air.
Lucifer looked up to see God’s wings as he was about to speak. They were the most beautiful wings that he had ever seen, made up of all the same components as the stars making the elegant feathers bright and color changing. Currently, they were radiant blue. This infuriated Lucifer! How? How could His wings still be better? That was the one thing that he’d had and now it was crushed. His wings were nothing compared to his Father’s. Everything inside him snapped and went backwards.
“Don’t call me your son! You’re not my father!” The angry angel proceeded using curse words and vulgar language. He told the Lord insults and lies, his poisonous tongue corrupting every word.
God waited until His Son of the Dawn was done. In His voice deeper than the ocean, He spoke with tears in His eyes, “My sweet Morning Star, why do you do this to yourself? I gave you everything, the highest rank of all the angels, why is that not enough? Why must you thirst so desperately for that which you cannot have? It is but power you want, yes? My power would destroy you, Lucifer. Come home, and let us forget about all of this!”
Lucifer stepped forth, and continued screaming insanely, using all of his tools of hate. God gave him two more chances but each time Lucifer turned Him down. Fury filled him, and he stepped towards God, raising his fist. Michael quickly stepped between the two, his flaming sword waving in Lucifer’s face, his knife-like feathers on edge and pointing at Lucifer’s throat.
“Think about this, brother.” Michael warned.
Morning Star smiled, “I have.” Then Lucifer did the unforgivable and renounced the Lord forever, smirking while he did so.
His tremendous voice was like a howling wind and everything was silenced as He whispered one echoing word that could be heard by every angel, “Satan.”
God’s hair turned into a lion’s mane; His flat teeth became long and sharp lion fangs. His wings spread out as far as the wingspan could go, making Lucifer stare in awe. The feathers of His wings now a flaming red. God’s gentle hands grew nails that were longer and sharper than a sword made out of star rock, but God’s eyes stayed the same. He let out a mighty roar that made Heaven seem to spin. The walls of the Palace disappeared, and so did the throne. Just like that, God had taken them all to a different location of the kingdom. Not just Satan and Michael but all of the angels.
Michael and Satan were in the direct middle of everything, all of the other angels had their eyes glued to them. Michael released Satan from his grip, looking to God for approval. The Lord nodded. When Michael looked back, Satan had taken the form of a dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and a crown on each head.
The dragon glared down at Michael with detest; utter hate scattered in his yellow gaze. A cold smile unraveled upon the head in the middle; the only one with three horns. This head showed Satan’s facial expressions.
“Surprise.” he hissed with a snicker. When the dragon spoke or laughed, all of the other heads did so making it sound like an army agreeing with him always. The noise was almost hypnotic.
God was standing right behind Michael. Satan shifted his eyes from Michael to God and the burning hate in them seemed palpable. Satan didn’t have to say a thing, God already knew. Tears of blood that smelled like roses rolled gently down the Lord’s cheek. As the first droplet landed on the ground, the devil bared his fangs while hissing and backing away as if in pain. Smoke rose from the ground where the droplet had fell as if burning away at the devil. Two more tears of blood landed, each time with same effect as the first: hiss, teeth, smoke.
Satan became infuriated. He lunged forward, roaring as he did so. The dragon’s nose wrinkled as he bore his vicious teeth at God. Screeching filled the air as his roar grew higher pitched, piercing the ears of every angel. Foam poured from his mouth as his eyes became more crazed than ever; the thirst for blood had begun.
Michael jumped in the way with his sword at the ready. Acting fast, he plunged the sword into Satan’s back; the dragon let out a pained shriek. Using the sword to hold on, Michael fluffed out his sharp feathers and began to flap his wings causing them to slam into the dragon’s skin and tear out flesh rapidly. Satan ran around and tried to bite at Michael with his seven heads but none of them could reach that far back.
As Michael was on the devil’s back, he looked up and saw something unsettling; the angels were fighting each other. Some of the angels such as Raphael and Gabriel looked over to Michael, they noticed the hard time he was having with the beast.
“Michael! Michael!” they screamed repeatedly in unison as they fought.
Michael couldn’t help but smile as all but one-third of the angels joined in. It became evident that the one-third not chanting his name were on the devil’s side.
The chanting of Michael’s name infuriated Satan even more. One of the dragon’s heads finally managed to stretch far enough back to just barely bite down on Michael’s white, linen, shirt. In an elegant motion, the head picked Michael up and swung him around like rag doll, shaking back and forth furiously. Finally, Satan let go, sending Michael plummeting into the ground, his sharp wings making terrible marks in the dirt of Heaven as he slid to stop on his back.
Gabriel walked up to his friend, and held out a hand.
Next was Raphael’s voice, no doubt making his best attempt at military banter, “Spending more time napping, I see. You’re not getting too old for this, are you?”
Michael took Gabriel’s hand and was pulled to his feet. Raphael stood beside Gabriel and even more angels stood behind them.
Satan saw their unity and roared at his own army. Then his words transitioned into an ear shattering hiss, “Get over here!” They did as he commanded.
Michael looked back at his army: his friends. They all looked forward ready for battle. The sorrow in their faces was easy to see; no one wanted to kill their brothers. Gabriel noticed him and tried to hide his very own sadness with a smile. This small gesture gave Michael more strength than any words could’ve. He looked forward and his eyes met with the dragon’s, and Michael couldn’t help but smile as an idea entered his mind. Michael knew that his own name meant, “Who is God?” but he’d never found it relevant until now.
What better question would there be to ask the beast?
Holding up his flaming sword signaling for a charge, he screamed, “Michael!” then broke into a sprint. The others followed behind him hollering his name in unison.
Satan took in a deep breath, the noise of the inhale was so loud with seven huge heads doing it at once, and then he bellowed fire from the mouth of each. As the flames spit forward, the devil’s army started their own charge against the angels. Each and every flame was focused towards Michael.
Stabbing his sword into the ground, Michael wrapped his wings around himself. The fire slammed into his metal feathers and threatened to push him down but he stood strong, his wings protecting him from the heat of inferno. All the while, his sword was setting a small fire of its own. It spread in seven different directions; three that flickered towards the beast’s servants and four heading to Satan himself.
The Evil One’s followers were licked by the blazes. It consumed them, burning away their beauty and ripping away at their souls, making them look decayed and scorched. Their wings were gone, teeth sharp and crooked. As for their eyes: black. God whispered a word that everyone could hear, “Demons.”
Satan twirled in a huge circle just as the fire reached him. With the edge of his tail, he caught the flames; controlled them, and continued to twirl until the flames slowly faded away.
Lord, Michael thought, I need your help. He’s too evenly matched for me. I can’t do this by myself.
You need only use my name against his.
What do you mean? Michael thought back, Lord, I don’t understand!
But his Father didn’t say anything in reply but instead waited and watched from somewhere unseen. Michael sighed and heaved in a big breath. Satan noticed, “Tired already?”
For some reason this comment lit a spark in Michael. Why is he here!? Why was he ever here!? I want him gone! He felt a rage that wasn’t there before.
“You! You…. are….” he struggled for the word, “wicked!… In the name of God and all of his glory, I banish you; Satan and your demons, into the deepest depths of Sheol: the Abode of the Dead!”
Something in the Wicked One’s face shattered. Satan was no longer a dragon. He’d shrunk down and steadily transformed back into his beautiful angel-self. The Demons seemed to fall through the floor of Heaven, just disappearing as they fell and fell and fell. But not Morning Star. He remained, surrounded by legions of angels that glared at him scornfully.
God’s voice echoed in the devil’s head, “What do you get when you take the stars out of the sky?”
Satan didn’t reply but felt a cold shiver crawl across his back at his Father’s whisper.
“Darkness.”
Just as the Lord finished speaking, a huge, blue, bolt of lightning struck Satan from above. The lightning knocked him through the ground of Heaven and he descended into space. He fell through galaxies, and dimensions of all shapes and sizes; the lightning burning away his wings and skin. Screams echoed throughout time as flesh and feathers were seared. His wings hurt the most as they became completely engulfed in fire.
Finally, the Evil One crashed into earth’s core. He held onto it with all of his might, refusing to go to Sheol just yet. When he landed in the hot, horrible place, the lightning receded and the Wicked One found a single piece of glass just beside him. Picking it up, he looked at his reflection. It was sad; his wings were completely burnt, leaving nothing but bone behind, his entire body showed tendons and muscled tissue everywhere. There was never a more hideous creature than the devil that day.
The demons had landed in Sheol, so the devil sat there and pondered what to do next. He knew he wanted God to feel as horrible as he did. He would show God that he could be better; he could beat him…..
But Satan was sorely mistaken.