Paradise Lost (Novel Adaptation)

Chapter 2 - Pandemonium

As they all flew up into the air, the legion of traitors began to plan their next move. What were they to do now?

One voice from the crowd in the air considered that they should all fly back to Heaven. They should not feel lost, for they could continue the fight and possibly win.

Another voice spoke out and said that they should take their time in retaliation. Planning should be the best option in order to take revenge against the Holiest of Holies.

Lucifer, however, decided against all of their tongues. As they flew over the endless scape of Hell, he spoke up. "Let us build a great palace for ourselves. If we are to make a Heaven of Hell, then let us build ourselves a place to rule."

Following his words, as they had before, they dove to the ground and began to dig into scorching earth. There they found precious metals that they had seen once before in Heaven, the greatest of those being gold.

Mammon, the greediest of the fallen, called them to gather all the gold they could find. For in the past, when he was still an angel of Heaven, he could not take his greedy eyes off of the golden roads that were paved beneath them. (Author's note: Mammon is a demonic figure in Biblical texts associated with greed)

For days, they gathered and built off the precious metals and gold and created a great palace; a palace that seemed large, but was so small in comparison to the kingdom of God. This kingdom they called Pandemonium, for in the Greek tongue this means "Every Demon". If you were to see it, you would not gasp at its mass, but scoff at its ridiculousness. For there is nothing great about its absurdity and uselessness of its great towers and large halls, for there were no uses for such a large fortress, as there was nothing they could defend from, especially the glory of God. But, absurdity or not, when they entered the finished palace, they all sat on golden thrones, with Lucifer's being in the center.

As they all became "kings" of their realm, they all began to finally plan their next move. The first of the fallen spoke up first. "Legion, why are you in your own self-pity. Don't you know that Heaven is not lost from us? Surely there is some way for us to fight back."

The first to respond was Moloch, once a fierce warrior for Heaven, but now a hulking brute whose identity had been lost. "I say we fight back immediately. I declare war and vengeance against His kingdom now! It would be better to face annihilation than to just sit here in Hell!"

Belial, another of the fallen, struck back against him. "You fool," he said, "you speak of annihilation like it's a small thing. Perhaps you should slow down before you kill us all! Did we not lose harshly to Him and His army? We would be fools like this brute here if we were to attack like this again. I say that we are exceedingly lucky in our squalor, because after all do we still not exist?"

The third to deliver an option was Mammon. He rose up and spoke over them. "Why do all you foolish still speak of Heaven? When we were taken from it, you suppose that we can just return?" He gestured to his surroundings. "Why do we not build Hell up to be a great empire? We could rival Heaven with our craftsmanship."

With this, the legions of fallen cheered, as the idea of building their own glory was the grandesf of ideas.

The only two that did not cheer were Lucifer and Beelzebub.

Beelzebub silenced the room with his voice. "Well your idiocracy has surely not left you, Mammon. We are not free. We are only as free as God allows us to be. We are jailed, unless you've forgotten." He arose. "We can build as many golden palaces as we want. We can even believe ourselves to be kings. But we are nothing more than locked up tight inside a box. It is foolish to think that an empire could be anything while we are still here."

Now, before they left Heaven, the fallen, formerly angels, had heard that God was creating a new world. This new world He called "Earth". And on this new Earth, there was a new creature among God's creations: man.

Beelzebub continued. "Whatever this 'man' is, it can't be as powerful as the angels. And once again, how could we tempt those among Him once again? Are we not in flames? Are we not licking our wounds like dogs?" He flew up to the center of the room. "Instead, let us corrupt this 'man.' If we control man then we shall take over the Earth, and we will build a great empire there."

With those words, the legion cheered in agreement. They all saw in their own hearts full of hatred that this was the perfect plan to strike against God.

"Now," the second in command continued, "we are in need of a volunteer. One who will go to Earth to see if it is indeed corruptable, and to see if there is a way that we can enter it."

And who of all was willing, the first of the fallen and whose plan this was from the beginning, arose and raised his hand. "I will go. I humbly accept this mission that you would put on me." He began to fly up into the air. "Besides, if I am to be a leader, then I should at least act like one." For deceit was his heart, and he could have cared less about those who were with him. For he wanted to be like God, but he could not lead like the Leader of all creation.

But the deceived cheered him on anyway. And as they cheered his departure, Lucifer spoke up once more. "Continue to build. For in the new world we will need a palace there as well."

As the first of the fallen flew away from Pandemonium, he saw the caverns of Hell where great monsters resided. Beasts that were dragons and those with razor teeth crawled about.

And as he flew toward the end of Hell, revenge was the only thing on his mind. But as we know, and he would soon find out, he would only find himself recreating an antithesis to what came before. For he could not create, but only pervert what was perfect.

As it is written, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him; and without Him there was not anything that was made."

And it is also written, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord."