Song For The Chapter: Suran &Coogie- Into the Abyss
There he is...
My body calmed down a little. I wasn't expecting such a gorgeous face to be looking down at me. The fact that he also didn't kill me at first glance also relieved me.
"How do you feel?" How do I feeellll????
The softness is his voice surprised me just as much as his appearance. Not only was the white short, very well kept hair a surprise but so were the grey eyes. The grey eyes was something I was used to because of seeing Jason everyday but these have deep emotion to them. Jason's eyes were full of love, happiness, and comfort but not his. I don't know him enough to see the history behind the dark, stoic eyes.
Not only were his eyes grey and beautiful but they had very few wrinkles around them. I was expecting someone as old as my teachers or as old as my grandparents but not someone slightly older than Jason. This angel is the soul that's been alive from the very start? If it wasn't for the power emanating off of him, I wouldn't have believed it. Well, maybe the white hair was the sign of his age... though it certainly didn't hinder his beauty.
The angel had porcelain skin, sharp features filled with muscles, and a scar on his neck. His voice was soft but very deep, clearly filled with authority yet he spoke softly to me as if he didn't want to kill me.
"We should start now." He spoke calmly, standing up. "Stand." I gulped, trying to stand slowly. I put my knees under me, straightened my arms, and begged myself to stand, I'm really not trying to get him mad.
Lucifer grabbed my arm, hauling me up to my feet. My body heated instantly, not in an nervous, scared type of way, no. More like I'm having a negative effect to being surrounded by so much hate. He pulled me up to my feet and let go but I was in no way able to stand which caused me to fall back onto the pillar.
That's when I saw his massive black wings. I tilted my head, wondering why I hadn't noticed before. The suit also caught my attention, this being is certainly dripped in authority, absolute power, I don't doubt that he's never smiled, never laughed, never loved.
Oh, my head is killing me. I dropped my head against my hand and that's when I saw the dark edges of my rose tattoo peaking from under my sleeve.
My heart froze, my eyes widened, and more tears spilled out of my eyes.
I slowly peeled my sleeve back...
The poor rose I had been given by the forest, the beautiful vivid rose that signified the gratitude of the world... it had withered. When Lucifer helped me up just now, he had killed the rose. Now what was left was simply a bright green stem with the brown rose withered into thin, crisps all in the shape of his hand.
A shaky breath escaped my lips, watching the angel as he observed me.
"Where's Jason?" I whispered, scared to even ask.
"He's fine. Do you wish to see him?" He asked.
"Yes." I whispered, I lost any strength I had and fell down the pillar sitting on my butt. I dropped my head to lay back onto the pillar. I don't have any energy, how will I fight my way out of this?
"Her body is failing here, I'm afraid you'll need to heal her, my King." The demon who brought me here suddenly stepped out from around the corner.
"Follow me, Serenity." Lucifer commanded.
"I can't." I don't even know if he heard me but it didn't matter, I was unconscious the next second.
"Mmph..." I groaned feeling the heaviness from my body lift. My eyes felt easier to open and the suffocating heat suddenly became bearable.
I don't know what it was or what happened but I felt some safety... some comfort... But it disappeared the very next second.... I don't know what it was....
"That was the first time in millenniums that I used my abilities to heal." Heal? I still feel like absolute shit...
I gulped, licking my dry lips, and trying to sit up. In attempt to rub my face, I had the realization that my wrists were cuffed together behind my back. With a deep sigh, I slumped over the arm of the chair I was in. I looked around, blinking repeatedly to clear my vision. Waking up in Hell... What a horrifying experience.
We were in a different room, but it was pretty much the same. The room was completely black, marble floors, marble pillars aligning the walls, same concept as the previous one. Only difference is the enormous window in front of me that begins on one side of the salon and end at the other side.
The red moon....
That's all I could see. The moon seemed to be at ground level here. What if... I wonder what it looks like outside the castle? For some reason, I don't think it would be the same as back home. I gulped, no it would be completely different.
"The restraints are just a cautionary. Now that you have some energy, it's best I be wary." He mumbled.
Lucifer sat in his giant throne in front of me, against the light of the moon, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at me. As if waiting for me to stop wasting his time. I took a deep breaths, trying to stop my head from swaying, fortunately, it did become steadier but my stomach completely lost it. I quickly bent over the arm of the chair, throwing up once again.
I groaned pathetically. First thing I've managed to do in Hell is throw up all over the fucking place, how legendary.
How graceful....
Falling back into my seat, I took notice on how the stoic monotone expression on Lucifer's face had cracked by the soft furrow of his brows, disgusted by me.
"Sorry." I mumbled, wiping my lips with my shoulder. He simply pursed his lips, looking away from me. "Why haven't you killed me? I thought that's what you've been fighting for?" My perception of Lucifer is quickly shifting. I had this stereotypical image of him, ugly demon with horns, murdering me the second I was in his grasp. Offering no mercy, only pain.
In my defense, he's been sending hella demons to kill me, it only makes sense that he wants me dead as soon as possible. Yet, here I am, throwing up infront of him in one piece. He even healed me...
"I've been fighting for something more than that, Serenity. I have no personal vendetta against you, it's simply what you stand for that I must ruin."
"Stand for?" I tilted my head. "I stand as Heavens Warrior."
"Oh Serenity, you've become apart of a war that you can't even begin to understand. You fight a war you had no choice but to be in. You don't know the true history behind this. If you could see exactly how toxic humans are, you'd be fighting alongside me."
"No!" I gagged, biting my lip, almost throwing up again. Toxic humans? Is this all because of people? Is that why....? That doesn't make any sense! "I-I..." I swallowed, taking deep breaths. "You hurt people, you hurt animals, you hurt everything and everyone. I could never fight with you!"
"Me?" He laughed incredulously. "I've been trying to fight to protect life! Protect every life form from you! Humans! Haven't you noticed, Warrior? Haven't you seen all the damage that humans have done?! You were so busy following orders, saving lives, fighting for humans, and falling in love, you never noticed all the negative influence they've done to the world! How could you,'Heavens warrior', let so much life die at the expense of just one species?!"
"What are you talking about? I've been saving everyone and everything. No one has gotten hurt!" I quickly thought back, trying to remember if anyone or anything was killed. "I fought hard to make sure no one got hurt..."
This changes everything I thought I knew. If this is what Lucifer thinks he's been fighting for... He's not as dark as I thought he was. He seems to have a... noble? Motivation...?
"You're so naive and ignorant, Serenity..." Lucifer sighed. "Think back to places you've been, where demons have appeared. Don't you see?"
The lake. the woods, the ocean, what about them? I didn't even see humans there. All the places have been barren.
"Your people are intoxicating the world. You're killing Earth. You leave endless trash everywhere. The abandoned amusement park, it scathed so many animals, killed acres of plant life, killed habitats only to be discarded in the end. A useless, worthless creation."
That's why the bears were so upset. They must've been one of the animals that had gotten hurt. The machines were faulty, probably collapsing or sparking every once in a while, there was glass everywhere! Even the debris must've intoxicated something.
"The coastline!" Lucifer's voice boomed loudly through the empty halls. "How could you not see?!" He yelled, slamming his fist against the arm of his throne, cracking the stone. "Millions of vile trash discarded into the water. Water is alive too, Serenity. Not only did your kind soil the water itself but you killed hundreds of animals. No animal is safe, they all encountered the trash in different ways, whether it was mistaken for food, or smothered by it, or choked by it."
I looked down, it was hard to make a rebuttal when I was ashamed of it too. We certainly have been hurting the environment over the years, there's no denying that.
I-I didn't even think about it til now... I thought my enemy was hell and the demons, I never thought to think that this could all be because of us.
"The factory!" He added. "How could you save it?! Didn't you see all the pollution it embedded into the air?!"
The factory was one of the midday missions I had to leave school to do. A demon had manipulated an explosion at the base of a power plant factory. I had to fight kill the demon before it could cause anymore destruction and Jason fixed everything back to order. It could have killed hundreds, of course I had to save it.
This war, this fight Lucifer inflicted wasn't as trivial as I thought, it's more than hell reigning. It was to stop the intoxication that we have brought to the world. That's his reasoning for all of this. But it doesn't add up... the demons sent only brought death and pain. To the environment, humans and creatures. How can he justify that?
"You sent demons to destroy part of life too! You destroyed the forest, infected the pond, you hurt the fairies, you killed fish, you hurt people, the wolf, the snake! What about those lives?!"
"After years of disrespect and torture, parts of life decided to seek refuge with me. Plant life no longer wanted to be burned and cut down, whales wanted to stop filling their bodies with garbage, creatures no longer wanted to live in secret. Many have sided with me and to make a difference there had to be sacrifices. We had to poison water sources so people could die off, we had to turn people into murders to kill each other, we needed to free the imprisoned creatures so they could reign."
"No, no that doesn't make sense. They wouldn't do that!" I vehemently shook my head in disbelief. They wouldn't do that! Every form of life only showed me love and support, other than a few times. How could they... Of course they wouldn't, this is all a lie. Right? Lucifer is just trying to manipulate me....
He's lying.
"They did. That's how we found out about Jason."
What?
I looked up at Lucifer, looking him dead in the eye, the most eye contact we've had since meeting him. He raised an eyebrow at my anger.
"They told you about Jason?"
"Yes." He nodded, monitoring my reaction. How could they do that?! I gave up everything. I-I-I fought so hard- we both did to make sure every soul would be okay. "Humans are a plague to the world, I have to rid the world of humans and their creations, the world is dying! There's no time left, they need to be eradicated now!"
"Genocide?! That's your plan?! Kill off an entire species!? NO! That's the foolish, lazy way to change. If humans could change it would be a greater impact on the world."
"And how do you plan to get humans to change?! They are the most stubborn creatures I've ever seen! What's the most you can do? Make a little fundraiser, inform your family and friends of the situation, clean every bit of trash you see? IT'S NOT ENOUGH ANYMORE. THERE'S NO TIME!"
"I don't know! But this isn't the way! This is wrong!" I don't know what to do! I don't know what could help! "You... you worked alongside of God, you know this can't be the way to fix the problem." His reason for fighting isn't wrong, its his method of fixing the situation that's wrong. He must know that, he has too.
"He is blinded! I care about this planet just as much if not more than all the angels. I'm trying to save it! You know it yourself, Warrior. You've only seen a sliver of the problems they make. If I were to get rid of them, we could go back to before, where everyone cared for each other and the Earth. Keep all the creatures safe and give them guidance. You don't know how beautiful it was, Serenity. It was... it was perfect."The anger in his voice slipped away, replaced with sadness. The shadows covering his face didn't let me see much of his expressions but I know his eyes must've darkened. "The creatures didn't have to hide who they were, the angels weren't forced to stay in Heaven, the fate of the world wasn't at risk! The seven sins will always be apart of us now...but it will always be better than how the world is now." There's so much passion in his words and that's a problem... because that means it'll be a lot harder to change his mind. He must have so much love for life... That's probably why he's so angry at us humans... because we killed off so much, so many died and were repressed at the expense of us.
"I understand... I believe how beautiful it must've been. You seem to have a deep passion and love for life but you're stuck in the past and whether you like it or not, the fate of the world is in our hands. The world will never be able to go back to how it was whether you kill off humans or not. That reality doesn't exist anymore but we can make a new one. Where you help us, help us take care of everyone. We can figure out some way to fix everything. For the world to truly excel all sides of life have to take care of Earth. It's not simply in the hands of humans, animals, angels or demons. Earth is a middle ground that requires all cooperation and help. Instead of trying to help humans see the wrong in their ways you scold them without guiding them. If you had put in the same amount of effort in trying to teach humans as you have in trying to kill them, there might have already been a change."
His head snapped to me, allowing me the chance to see his furious gaze. Clearly he is not used to the criticism, being King of Hell for so long.
"I acknowledge all the damage we've done and I understand your viewpoint, your perspective. You had to watch humans destroy everything you love, of course you'd be angry and want to fight. It's what I'm doing now, I'm fighting for what I love, I just haven't hurt anyone. I know that genocide isn't the way. And although I know genocide isn't the way, I don't know the right way. I'm sorry that I can't give you an answer but I'm not fighting blindly. I know this isn't right. You know too! You're just so desperate to save everything, so desperate to save everything you love that you'd resort to this."
"You said it yourself, you don't know what the right answer is. Doing something is better than do nothing. If I have to kill off the parasite to save the host than so be it."
"Because of this journey, I have seen even more than I could have ever imagined, I learned about things I didn't even know existed. You being the King of Hell must've seen so much more beauty than I ever could meaning you've seen more damage than I ever did. I want to save it! That's why I've been fighting so desperately against you. You want to save it too, to truly save the world lets work together! It can't be just one or the other, it has to be us both." I held my ground against his gaze, I know this is the best way. Working together. We have the same goal and together we can save the world. Lucifer nodded, agreeing with my words.
"Your words hold some truth but just as you said, I have seen far too much. My plans will not change we will go to war and I intend to win. I truly am sorry to have to do this to you. There's a lot of innocence and purity in you that doesn't deserve this but I will no longer stand for the brutality. I have to let them see how weak you are. How weak humans are...How easily you can be swayed, how easy you give up, how easy you destroy, how easy you can kill. You're so easily corrupted. Doesn't matter if we combine forces, your kind will never change. It has been years since these problems have been known and there has not been any effort to make a difference. Eternal rest of this planet only grows closer and closer."
"We can change." I growled. We can make greater milestones than we can destruction.
"Earlier I told you I have to destroy what you stand for. You think you stand as Heavens Warrior and while that is true... you stand for so much more." So much more than the Heavens? What could that mean? "Serenity, you stand as the humans last chance, you represent all humans. Earth began to feel the horrible effects of having humans reign for so long. It almost turned completely against you and sided with me..." What!? Jason really left so much out of the story. "The Heavens offered one more chance, you. A human was needed to show they could still bring good to the ground, bring hope."
"I did. I did! I only ever helped, didn't I?" Lucifer tilted his head, nodding softly.
"You did, Serenity. You did really good. I'm sure the angels are proud of you." He sighed. "But you see, with the position I'm in, it is now my job to show how weak you are, to corrupt you, and show the Earth and Heavens that you can't be trusted. To show everyone, that the world would be better off with the angels and creatures. That's why I haven't killed you yet, I need to break you first."
"No. If I'm a representation of my people then I won't break and I'll show everyone, I'll show every fucking soul that we can better the world, we can do better, we can get better!"
Lucifer sighed at my words, almost pitying me with his gaze. He really thinks he'll break me. I made it this fucking far, I can fucking do it!
"I had a feeling it would be this way, which is why I brought...."
A pair of footsteps echoed down the hall. I sat up straight, glaring at the door. I can't fight and I can't cleanse but that can't stop me now. I can't- I refuse to let that stop me.
I swallowed expecting to see another demon turn the corner...
but it was much worse....
It was Jason.