Paradise Lost (Novel Adaptation)

Chapter 3 - The Journey to Earth

As Lucifer flew up to the end of Hell, he finally reached the gates of the fiery prison. Before him were erected nine gates: three of brass, three of iron, and three of bronze.

A blasphemy of Heaven's gates, he thought to himself as he looked on their constructions.

And as he looked on the gates, he saw sat two figures. One was a woman-like creature, a creature that Lucifer had not seen before. Her torso was that of a woman, and she was like a serpent from the waist down. Around her waste was two dogs, or what the human eye would see as dogs. Two were attached to her waist and two were roaming free. Their eyes were fiery and their teeth were red like iron. One might assume that they were something like a Cerberus.

The other figure, parallel to her, could only be described as a large dark and terrible shadow. It had no detectable form, not that of an angelic being, nor that of God. It could be a pillar or it could be a tree or it could be a giant. Whatever it was, it was a void. When it stepped, the ground trembled.

Lucifer approached them and clutched his spear tight. "May I pass through the gate," he asked.

Almost instantly, the shadow snapped out at him and fell upon him to the point where the void blocked out his view. "You should learn your place, first-fallen. Perhaps you should burn in Hell like you're supposed to."

And the first of the fallen, impatience on his heart, snapped back. "Perhaps you should just let me through, you foul shape."

The woman hissed and approached him as well. "You would do well to know your place, father. You would speak out against your son?"

Between the three of them, an argument broke out. But every time the two rebuttaled against him, Lucifer was puzzled by their term of endearment they called him as "father". And why they were calling themselves his children.

After he asked them this mystery, the woman spoke up. "Father, do you not know that my name is Sin?" she spoke. "You conceived me at the moment you considered rebellion against the One Above All. Through the rebellion, you created the first sin, and I am she."

And thus it is fitting for her to be called sin itself. For why does sin come into our lives so beautifully, but underneath it is ugly and unnatural?

"And while I was still behind Heaven's Walls," she continued, "my presence alone began to tempt the other angels. Do you not know that I ushered the third of the Kingdom to your side? Through their sin and rebellion against God, I gave birth to a new entity. The one that sits beside me. For he is your son, and his name is Death. When you fell, I and your son did as well. And the keys to the gates of Hell were granted to me. And my orders are to keep it closed."

And thus it was so. Lucifer, the once chiefest of all angels in Heaven, birthed sin into the universe. And through sin came death as well.

And there they stood in the midst of each other. An unholy trinity of Hell. For as it was written before: the first-fallen cannot create, only pervert what came before. And his journey to earth, is it not a perversion of Christ's sacrifice?

Puzzled for once, Lucifer took in the information and, once again, tried to find out how he could serve himself to grant access to the ground between Hell and Earth. And thus, the serpent spoke with his forked tongue. "If you would let your father pass beyond the gate, surely you would believe that I would let my children come with me to the new Creation? You cannot come into the world when I am there, but you will be able to get there soon, I assure you."

And thus, excited by her father's words, Sin opened the gates of Hell. The key she held that let loose the fire, the sad instrument of all our woe.

The gate opened to a dimension of raw chaos. The space between spaces, and the space between Heaven, Hell, and Earth. For to the naked eye we would see it as nothing but the cosmos and beyond, but the universe, ultimately infinite in it's range and capabilities, was in balance for reason. God spoke, and it was thus.

Into the emptiness Lucifer lept. And though he tried to fly, he fell as he did before. But the wind of the eternal chaos carried the creature upwards and into the fray.

As he was blown along, he came across a large figure. His form was close to a heavenly figure, but greater in size than anything Lucifer had seen. It was entirely made of dark matter.

"Who are you?" the first-fallen asked.

The entity turned its gaze to him and spoke with a thundering boom. "You would learn well to speak lightly to me. For I am Chaos Incarnate."

And once again the forked tongue of the beast let loose from his jaw. And thus he asked the creature if he would join him in his conquest of Earth if he would show him the way.

And thus, Chaos Incarnate was deceived. Chaos showed him the way. Chaos followed.

Lucifer caught the wind and blew along the path that would lead him to Earth. And as their father peddled along his way, Sin and Death used Chaos to build a bridge from Hell to Earth, for they could not reach it on their own.

As Lucifer journeyed, he saw the heavenly bodies that God placed in the cosmos for us to see. Eventually, he saw that he neared the New World.

Earth lied ahead.

****

And in Heaven on High, sat on the throne was God. And to the right hand of God was the Son, whom we would know as Christ. They watched the Earth. And they saw that it was good, for it was a place of uninterrupted joy and unrivaled love.

And as they were sat on the throne, they saw the visage of Lucifer traveling to Earth.

God, who is perfect in knowledge, foresaw what was to come. And mournfully, He spoke, "For I speak of things to come, and see everything and thus it is impossible for me to see nothing, surely I say that my new creation, Man, will betray me."

One of the angels in the divine presence spoke up. "But, my Holy Father, could you not stop this?"

God shook His head. "I will not interfere. I created this new Creation with the chief ability of love. They should be able to love without limits. Love cannot exist without the concept of free will. Love cannot exist for just subjugation. In order to love you must have a willing desire to follow that who loves you." He continued. "Man will not be wholly punished. For they will choose to no longer be divine creatures, and simply will no longer be able to act in divinity. Because of this, they will know pain. They will know suffering. They will know corruption. They will know what they shouldn't have to."

The Son, who is perfect in knowledge just as God, for He and the Father are one, asked God in the presence of heavenly bodies, "Will all of humanity be lost forever?"

"Some will be lost," He responded. "Some will chase after the visage of sin. But there will be some that hear my voice. There will be those who will chase after me. For free will is their right. Those who chase after sin will suffer the evils of sin, and those who chase after me will be granted access back at my side. Those who chase me will be given access through a sacrifice."

And just as Beelzebub asked for a volunteer to destroy creation, God the Father asked for a volunteer to save it.

And who else to volunteer, but God Himself in the Son, that would be Christ. For He would one day be hoisted up by His enemies and He would take on Sin, Death, and Satan (that is Lucifer). And He would one day defeat them both in that those who would believe would indeed be saved.

As Lucifer went into the world to conquer and make what was perfect perverted, Jesus Christ would come into the world to save those who reject the perversion and bring back love.

Before Man even fell, God made a way.