10,000 BC.

Lucifer fell.

He fell fast and hard and without grace or hope.

He fell as if the hand of god had cast him from heaven.

He fell as a star would fall, hot and bright and burning with an unholy flame that gave Lucifer the appearance of a newly risen star.

And with his falling fell the last hope of man. As Lucifer fell his body was encased in flames hotter than any fire found on the world below him, his body burning and yet healing at the same time. His skin blistered and flaked and sizzled, but even as his skin turned to ash it grew anew whole and fresh, unmarred and unscarred. To all who viewed him he was bound in flames and yet not a mark was on him. And all could hear his falling for they could hear his screams, for as Lucifer fell he left a stream of fire as if he was a star falling from heaven for he fell faster than the speed of sound.

The speed of his decent would have burnt all life to ash in a moment, but then Lucifer was not any ordinary creature for he was a Hellspawn, a creature born once every thousand years.

Lucifer’s eyes opened and he looked out at the world around him and felt the burning rush of the atmosphere on his skin, but still he felt no pain only regret and betrayal. For Lucifer could not see any reason in his mind why the angels would cast him down, and could find no sin in his life worthy of such a betrayal as to be cast from the roof of the world.

For death waited at the end of his descent. Nothing could survive the impact that he would make on this world when he hit. But still he screamed not from pain but anger and he screamed out in revenge until no breath was left in his lungs, and yet still he screamed and fell even further.

Lucifer cast his eyes downwards and looked to where he fell. Even as his eyes burnt from the force of the wind and atmosphere, he still saw the world rush up to meet him as if to give him a last embrace. And upon the world, he saw the mountains of Eastern Europe, the land mass so named by the angels. And Lucifer felt the stream of the fire of his descent burn the mountains around him, their icecaps, forever frozen, melting for the first time since their formation. Lucifer’s passage stirred the ancient creatures of the world and the greatest of them raised themselves from their slumber to witness his passing. They were the dragons of the mountains and they sat upon their mountain tops and watched him fall, and they cried out their majestic songs as a final sign of their respects.

Lucifer’s mind still could not believe what was happening, some part of him wishing that it was a dream, a dream that he wished he could wake from. But the pain was all too real and still he fell. And as the sun rose above the horizon, Lucifer fell into the shadow of the mountain and sped for the ground which waited patiently below, waiting with his death.

Lucifer had heard that mortals see their lives flash before their eyes and as his death came within reach he found that it was true for hellspawn as well.

Lucifer could see where he was falling to, a large pond or small lake directly below him. And not far from the edge of the body of water sat an Abbey. As realisation of what the Abbey signified dawned on Lucifer, the lake’s waters seemed to rise up as if to greet the man foolish enough to step into the lake, or as the angels called it, the Pool of Immortality.

Lucifer’s last breath was for a scream that never came, for as he slid into the water he felt the life bound within the water and he knew that what was to come would be worse than anything that he had felt in his entire life.

The Pool of Immortality had been named as such as a joke. For all who entered found that they died screaming regardless of who or what you were. And yet there bound in the waters, your soul would remain forever, immortal, eternal.

Lucifer’s feet had passed into the water, then his whole body was submerged and he waited for death to come and claim him. But instead the water itself woke from its slumber and to Lucifer’s eyes the water was alive with wisps of light and life, and then he felt them surge forth and try to consume his body. They flowed across his immortal skin and then flowed into him, and the pain tore through Lucifer’s mind and all thought and reason fled.

Lucifer screamed louder and the wisps of energy roared down his throat, his body screaming in pain and suffering beyond imagining. Every cell in his body was ripped apart and then reassembled differently, but still Lucifer could not die. He felt the change work through his body and he knew that if he survived he would arise a different being, one that would have no equal.

The power of the water flowed on and the world turned uncaring as Lucifer’s nervous system came in contact with the water’s power. He felt his nerves expand and twist and then shrink, over and over, until his internal organs had changed beyond recognition. Two hearts beating in time were formed, while lungs, which could hold more air than needed, thirsted for a new dose of oxygen, and a digestive system, which was unlike any that came before it, churned and cried out with a desperate hunger.

Muscles, a thousand times denser and stronger than their human counterparts, formed and knitted together, while bones of diamond hardness solidified. Eyes that saw beyond the scope of reality turned in their new sockets wide with disbelief at what they saw. And in the centre of this transformation, Lucifer screamed in pain and fear for the water’s affects had reached his brain. For all that he had been was being washed away by tides of power greater than his understanding.

Lucifer awoke to find himself lying in a hall of pillars and darkness. And deep within his chest, Lucifer felt the first touches of fear. For around him in a perfect circle were eight, giant, Redstone pillars, each one thicker than any man or beast, each one placed equally apart in the circle and each one marked with writing that made no sense to Lucifer. And at the same time, the pillars spoke with unending purpose and clarity, for on each pillar was marked one of the names of the Eight Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

The names of the horsemen were Conquest, Pestilence, Famine, War, Death, Genocide, Destruction, and Oblivion. But each was so much more, carrying with it meaning and feeling and true knowledge of what each of them was. Beyond the pillars was an emptiness which dwarfed the human mind, for there was nothing there and yet there was a darkness which moved and stirred and whispered. But Lucifer cared nothing about the darkness or the horsemen’s names; instead he ran his hands over his body and felt what had been done to him.

His body was extraordinary, every cell different. Yet, he knew that his new body was perfect, for it contained no flaws, and no diseases existed within him. Lucifer knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that he was still immortal and yet he knew that he was so much more than simply immortal.

He had become something elemental, eternal, everlasting.

Slowly, Lucifer raised himself off the floor and looked about himself taking in everything around him. He could no longer see the name of the Horsemen on each of the pillars. However that didn’t bother him very much, as the endless darkness beyond the pillars gave him an uneasy feeling, as if there were a thousand times a thousand of the most horrid things hiding in the shadows. Lucifer glanced down to stop looking at the endless darkness and noticed for the first time that the floor where he was standing had a giant pattern on it, the symbol of yin and yang. A circle with a sinuous line running through the circle dividing black from white, and within each half rested a circle consisting of the colour of hearts’ red blood.

Lucifer stood up and cast his eye to the nearest of the blood circles, the one which lay within the black part of the symbol carved into the floor. Slowly, Lucifer began to walk over to the blood circle, and as he walked he tested out how his new body functioned and tested the new strength found within. Lucifer knew without a doubt that if he wished for it he could move at speeds beyond what was physically possible.

Lucifer stood at the edge of the blood circle hesitating, for he knew that if he were to step on the circle then something would happen, but he didn’t know what. Sighing audibly, Lucifer set his shoulders and stepped on to the blood circle and turned to face the closest Redstone pillar.

A window opened up half way between Lucifer and the pillar. It was five feet by five feet and its centre was located at the same height as Lucifer’s eyes. Lucifer knew without looking that the window was only two dimensional. He knew that it had no depth whatsoever. But none of that really mattered as what the window opened up into disturbed Lucifer more than anything he had ever seen in his hundred odd years of life.

The window showed a corridor of twisted bone and skulls all from different creatures, and even as he looked he saw that the corridor seemed to rotate as it went along so that the floor ended up as the roof and then eventually returned to being the floor again only to start the whole process all over. The corridor flowed onwards towards a dark epicentre found at the end of the impossible corridor. Lucifer’s eyes flowed into the unimaginable darkness trying to pierce its endless darkness, seeking the answers found deep within, and then understanding arrived.

Lucifer’s mind shattered apart.

It shattered much as a dropped glass vase might shatter, with pieces breaking off and flying into an unimaginable void. And yet Lucifer saw, he saw and remembered all, everything, for within the window was all of eternity. All the knowledge from the beginning of the universe to this present moment of reality, Lucifer saw, and felt, and heard, and touched, and smelled, everything that had ever occurred. And all the while, the wails and the howls of the dead trapped in the abyss between realities screamed into Lucifer’s mind. He knew the agonies of everyone and everything from all across time and space and reality.

Lucifer’s mind flowed back together with the same viscosity as honey, forming together into one single cohesive whole within which burned the knowledge of all the deeds that the angels had ever committed.

The angels had risen from this world before the dinosaurs had even begun to take form, when the earth was young and the fate of the sun was still in question. Would it explode or settle down and become stable? Even the angels did not know and so they had risen from their home world and flew between stars, converting or slaying all those that stood before them and they grew powerful. Then they found other creatures, other sentient races which fought back, with great and devastating power. And yet they all perished, wiped from existence never to rise again. So the angels continued until the entire galaxy was under their dominion, and still the angels quested for more power, power great enough to cast god from his celestial throne, and remake the universe as they saw fit.

And they found it.

Lucifer had heard the angel’s talk of an untempered energy wrought of such power that a billion, billion suns could never come close; they had called it the Word of God, The Will of Heaven, The Light of Eternity. Lucifer had never believed, but now he saw it and he trembled in fear and awe. The power was beyond time itself, unlimited and beyond any conceivable idea.

Lucifer’s mind once had been small and weak, but now he saw what none but an elite few could, reality as it was; infinite. He saw how it worked and was awed at what he perceived.

Between all matter exists an energy binding greater than any tie or rope, so great nothing could ever sever it. This energy bond existed between everything whether it was atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, leptons, quarks or anti-quarks. However, the bonds didn’t stop at the sub-atomic scale. They existed between everything until all of reality looked like it was woven from a glimmering gossamer curtain of light and energy, which continuously shifted and changed in a harmonic motion. This caused all things to occur or shifted based on the location and actions found within all reality.

So in reality a butterfly could flap its wings and on the other side of the galaxy a star could be born while on the other side of creation a world would collapse into ruin as a result. However those that saw and knew the Word of God could alter the very fabric of creation, allowing impossible things to come to pass.

The angel’s knowledge stopped at that point, but Lucifer saw more still, seeing the darkness which constantly eroded the light and stole the energy from its harmonious counterpart. This darkness was the void between matter, the space between spaces; the abyss which was home to the Horsemen. It was an energy which could unmake all that it came in contact with.

The angels had found the power which they were looking for and they had called it the Word of God. They thought that they were now without equal in the entire universe, for everything was as clay in their hands. They could unravel suns, create worlds, even make life and so they believed they had achieved a state of power and magnificence greater than that of god, whom they claimed to serve.

And so they returned to their home world, Earth, only to find that it was occupied by strange creatures. These creatures would later be called dinosaurs. The angels saw them as an insignificant race of creatures that needed purging and so they created a solution, one fitting their own magnificence and genius. They created a giant world killing comet which they cast towards the planet, in an unknowable rage. The destruction was massive and nearly all life was annihilated. Then the angels flew down to Earth and set about making the world their imperial capital from which they would rule the entire galaxy and all the worlds found therein.

Millennia turned by and the angels didn’t even notice, but from the abysmal muck rose a creature that would shake all of time and reality, Man. At first the angels cared nothing for man but eventually they turned their immortal eyes towards the problem of man. The angels examined man and saw their potential and for the first time in all their existence felt an emotion that their very name inspired in all of the enemies that they had ever made, fear. Not just a simple fear but an untempered, unrelenting fear which broke them into different factions. For they foresaw that man would become greater than even them, the Angels, the supposed most perfect creatures in the entire universe.

The angels studied the first creature which they called man and found that the creatures could be taught and that they learned and could grow and eventually begin to understand the world in which they lived. However the potential for the possibility of Hellspawn was noted and so they took the decision before their king and lord, Gabriel, who was the only angel in the entire Sol system who could use the Will of Heaven, the Word of God.

Time progressed and man became something worthy of servitude and so the angels taught man to love, worship and even fear the angels that they served, and man did. Never once did rebellion form even in the hearts of man, and so the angels saw fit that man was worthy of this world, however the Hellspawn were not. The Hellspawn weren’t as predictable as their human ancestors and their very nature made them more immortal than the Angels themselves. So the Angel took each one of these Hellspawn and raised them and if a threat was detected in the Hellspawn then they were killed to prevent any form of cataclysm from these strange forms of life. But in the end the Angels lost track of their task and simply stopped caring and let their guard down, for a Hellspawn was born rarely, so rarely that a thousand years could pass by and not one Hellspawn would emerge. And so the Angels forgot their fear and stopped watching the Hellspawn.

Time progressed and eventually a child was born with the rising dawn of the sun and so they called the boy Lucifer.

Lucifer had been born a hundred years ago in a remote village in what the angels had called Africa, and he had been born as the sun emerged from clouds in the early hours of the morning and so his parents had called him Lucifer, the Light Bringer in the language of the angels. But the joy of their new born son was short lived as the local priest had seen what he was; a hellspawn, a creature born to human parents who possessed both incredible magic and immortality.

His family had abandoned him there and then, leaving Lucifer to be raised by the priest. And so Lucifer grew up unloved and hated even by those he who raised him, and on his tenth birthday the angels came and took him away. After hours of torture and various tests, Lucifer found himself placed in a school for lack of a better word, where he was taught the language of the angels, history, magic and above all else the glory of the angels. And so Lucifer grew in power and strength and learned to live without love or kindness, knowing that the world hated him without exception.

Twenty years after, Lucifer was taken by the angels another boy was brought to the so called school. Like Lucifer he was immortal but for a different reason. He had Dark Blood in him. Dark Blood was a rare condition with the same chance of occurring as that of being a Hellspawn. But this Dark blood gave its host dark magics, which meant that all angels would kill creatures like this boy on sight. And yet the boy was sitting here next to Lucifer and so Lucifer asked the boy his name and found his first and only friend in the world.

And so the years rolled on and the boy grew up and was named Marcus. Together Lucifer and Marcus were taken to see Gabriel who was a king of all angels, and supposedly one of the few angels who could talk to their mythical God. Gabriel judged that both of the boys would be allowed to live so long as neither ever betrayed the angels. The boys had parted ways there and then and never saw each other again.

Lucifer’s life progressed and eventually he grew to know angels and could even be called their friend. Until the day the angels came for him and took him to Gabriel who stated that Lucifer had betrayed him and his angels. Gabriel commanded his holy host to take Lucifer away and that he was to be killed. And so the angels took him and cast him from the roof of the world, knowing that not even he, the greatest of the Hellspawn, would survive such a fall.

Lucifer lay on the ground, every nerve and muscle and tendon screamed in pain from the strain of holding his whole body taut. And yet he felt good. Lucifer knew so much. He knew everything and anything. He felt the rhythms of the universe turn in his mind. He could feel and see the majestic energies of the world around him. He could feel both of his bodies with perfect ease, the one that lay on the floor of the Halls of Time and the body which was still submerged in the Pool of Immortality. And as he lay there he knew that his body back in the physical world was shining with the untempered energies of both light and dark and he knew that the water rejoiced and surged with the same power flowing through it.

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And all who could see the valley and the pool, which lay at its heart, would see a pillar of immense white light which split the heavens and turned all that it touched to dust. A white light which rose from the pool in which Lucifer floated. Lucifer appeared to all observers oblivious of the progress of time and all that was occurring in the world around him.

Lucifer gathered himself off of the floor and looked around at the Hall of Time and realised an important fact. Since the beginning of the universe and even beyond, he was the first person from the physical world to tread its halls and see what he had just seen. Grinning to himself, Lucifer rose to his full height and walked over to the other blood circle and breathed a deep breath as he readied himself for a similar experience. For if the previous circle showed the past then the circle in front of him should show him the future and all that was bound by fate to come to pass.

Lucifer’s foot hit the blood circle and his mind instead of shattering hardened, hardened until it reached strength greater than that of diamond. Another of the odd windows opened before him and in it he could see the future of all things. Lucifer saw the passage of time. He saw that he would wage war on the angels and eventually cast them from this world.

Lucifer’s mind shuddered back from the implications of what that suggested. However the next vision cleared his mind of any other thought, for he saw his children. His three sons.

Lucifer knew happiness for a brief few minutes, but as the vision progressed he saw what they would become and what they would create, the vampires, the werewolves and the gargoyles. Lucifer wept at what he saw, for the deeds that they would do, not only to each other but to the human race. Lucifer saw atrocities and things that he could not even give words to, but still he watched on and on, searching desperately for any kind of sign that there was hope. And so the years marched on and he saw his children and their descendants come to a land of sand and dust with a massive river running through it. And Lucifer saw the empire grow and prosper. The people created giant pyramids out of stone they hauled from miles and miles away, but still Lucifer could not see any good in the world and even as he wept the vision showed him more and more. He saw empires rise and fall. He saw a man whose blood ran as dark as the night and who moved with speed even greater than that of vampires. An empire of soldiers and wars and legions carving the world apart and sewing it back together again. A man nailed to a cross came to view, whose name would rally the world and send crusades and spark wars and spill more blood than anything that the angels had ever done to mankind. He saw slavery and deceit and malicious deeds done in favour of gods who didn’t exist. And even though Lucifer could bear to see no more, he continued to watch. And he saw man try to redeem itself and fail time and time again. Eventually, magic and superstition gave way to science and logic and technology. Children were used as slaves to mine and haul away goods for an industrial age that cared nothing for their insignificant, little lives.

But time cared not and it rolled on and on and on oblivious to all that occurred. Men rose up with dreams and ideas about the world and so science came to pass. Machines that pulled carts were created and there were eventually devices called cars and other contraptions that allowed man to fly.

However war broke anew, a world war, and then a depression that lasted years. A rise of a dictator sparked a new world war. The atrocities that were committed were seared into Lucifer’s brain. And then a weapon, that outdid all that the rest was made, a weapon which outdid all those that had come before it, a weapon that turned man to dust, leaving only their shadows in its wake. And the world screamed as it was defiled, and yet in its wake the plants grew strong while the animals of all kinds fell sick and died. Yet the effects of the bomb didn’t stop there. Men who couldn’t see were given sight while those in perfect health lost their hair and faded away until they died meaningless, shallow deaths. And still the world continued on, a war of spies and treachery followed after. But the world was changing, it remembered the horrors of the last war and calls for peace were rallied.

Lucifer watched, but he could no longer feel any sorry or pity for the human race. They were as the angels said, a mongrel race born for war and all its horrors. Lucifer watched and waited to see how man would come to its end.

The world quieted and people forgot what waited in the bottom of their hearts and they grew satisfied with all that they had. And yet not, a new type of war was born, a hunger for money, a time of profit and capitalism that existed for the entire world.

The second millennium passed by and people celebrated the passing of two thousand years of time. And still the world moved on, but then Lucifer saw something he did not expect. The window he was looking through grew brighter and brighter and brighter until not even his eyes could pierce what was hidden in the light. And then with a final flair, the light vanished and Lucifer saw a person standing on the other side of the window looking back at him.

She was beautiful, at least to Lucifer’s eyes. Her eyes were a mysterious green, her hair a raven black and her skin held a fairness to it that made it seem she had been carved from marble into a perfect statue that looked as if it could breathe. She stood within a mirror view of the Hall that Lucifer at present stood within.

“Hello,” Lucifer called hesitantly, his voice shaky and unsure.

“Hello,” was her reply.

Lucifer couldn’t help but notice that her voice was beautiful. And then he realised this lady was from the future and she at her point in time was standing on the blood circle of the past looking back at him while he was looking at her from the blood circle of the future. This had somehow caused a touching of past and future to create a present where both of them could talk back and forth between their respective time zones.

Lucifer drew himself up so that he was meeting the lady’s eyes, and spoke perhaps the first words he had ever said to a woman, “I’m Lucifer, what is your name?”

The lady’s lips had parted slightly in surprise, before a grin spread across her beautiful, rosed hued lips.

“It’s best if I don’t tell you,” she said. “It might cause complications for you if I reveal too much.”

Lucifer paused as understanding came to him. Not only did this lady know of him, she appeared to know him personally. The thought made Lucifer smile.

“I better get going,” she said.

“Wait, before you go please tell me, do I know you?” asked Lucifer.

“That’s the first time I have ever heard you ask me a question,” the lady said before continuing. “Yes you do know me. You’ve known me for most of my life. You’re also one of our world’s most important people, and you are even idealised by people, although most people fear you because of your strength, or your rage, or the simple method that you have for dealing with problems and people in general.”

Lucifer frowned, before continuing, “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re known for killing people that set your plans awry, usually with some spectacular results, such as exploding brains while they’re still in the person’s head.”

Lucifer froze at that. Normally he wasn’t so violent, but then again after what he just saw maybe the future him had justification for the tremendously evil deeds that the lady hinted at. Sighing Lucifer turned his mind to the problem at hand, the humans. Looking up at the lady, he spoke.

“You’ve seen all of what I have just seen, what do you think I should do?”

“I think you should let it all come to pass,” the lady replied.

“Why?”

“No matter what they do, if you rob people of their free will you can become as corrupt as the angels. And even if all those bad things come to pass there is still hope and all that.”

Lucifer’s frown deepened, but he let her continue.

“Besides as they say; one thousand moments of pain and unhappiness can be made up with a single moment of pleasure.”

Lucifer’s eyebrows rose up in a clear indication of what he thought about that line of thought.

“All right I must admit the world is an ugly place and in the end humans might destroy all that stands before them, including themselves, but I think that they are a worthwhile race and that they should be allowed to live and reach their potential, and I wouldn’t be lying when I say that I want to be born.”

Lucifer paused at that thought. He pressed his hand to the side of his head, combing his fingers through his black hair, as he realised the implications of that statement. The thought that this woman would never be born made his stomach turn and a deep icy feeling settle into the centre of his body where his dual hearts beat in rhythm.

However, a thought struck into Lucifer’s mind. What if this girl was just saying what she thought he wanted to hear? Maybe she was trying to make sure that he allowed the world that he saw to come to pass, regardless of what had occurred in it.

Lucifer turned suspicious eyes towards the girl in the window. She was saying something, but Lucifer didn’t care about what she was saying. He was too busy studying the girl, and how she moved, the way her eyes couldn’t meet his and how see kept glancing over her shoulder at something hidden from his view.

Slowly it dawned on Lucifer what was going on. The girl naturally could enter into the Hall of Time, but this was her first time and she was not alone. Someone else was giving her instructions so that she could play on whatever weaknesses that he might have, in order to make him decide to maintain the future that he had just seen.

“You’re being forced to do this, aren’t you?” said Lucifer.

The girl paused and then her smile faded off her mouth, but Lucifer knew that she was happier, before continuing, “yes, I was told in great detail that you must make the decision to keep the world that you just saw or else everything would be undone and we would never have been born, and that there are things that must come to pass.”

Lucifer paused before continuing, “so in other words, you were told to manipulate me until I decided to ensure that the future came to pass.”

“Yes.”

Lucifer smiled before he threw his head back and began to laugh uncontrollably. The girl in the window took a half-step back in surprise at Lucifer’s reaction. Lucifer brought his head down to stare directly into the girl’s jade green eyes, before saying “all my life I have been manipulated by creatures other than me, the angels, the accursed water of this infernal Pool of Immortality, and now you, a person, who will not even be born for another twelve thousand years. I just thought it was hilarious.” Lucifer took a deep breath and continued, “alright I will do as you say and allow the future and all its magnificent horrors to come to pass, but know this, this will be the last time anyone controls me!”

The girl smiled then and this time the smile reached up to her eyes and she seemed to glow as she began to laugh.

“Alright, I will tell him what you said,” the girl said, still struggling to contain her obvious delight in what she had just heard.

“I guess this is goodbye then?” she said as she reached out and touched the window. And much like its name suggested, her hand touched the window and seemed to hit some kind of barrier that prevented her from reaching into Lucifer’s version of the Hall of Time. She pressed her hand up to the transparent barrier so that it was splayed out with none of her fingers touching each other.

Lucifer regarded her a moment before he placed his hand out in the same manner so that their hands were in the same place. Lucifer’s head came up as he felt an energy wave flow from her in to him giving him information on who and what had forced her to do this task. Lucifer couldn’t help but see that there was an incredible irony in what he had just said when he compared this piece of information to everything in context. Sighing, he brought his hand back down and stood there watching as the girl faded from sight. However the window didn’t fade, it stood there as if it was waiting for something else to occur.

Then a figure stepped into Lucifer’s range of sight. It stood there unmoving and eternal giving off a sense that it knew everything, that it was all knowing and as ancient as the stars. It stared at Lucifer with a burning intensity that was almost holy. Lucifer stared across a span of twelve thousand years into eyes that tried with all their might to pierce Lucifer’s mind. But Lucifer just stared back into its two glowing red eyes, eyes he knew very well, for they were his eyes.

Lucifer jerked back into his body.

Lucifer felt for a brief second a slight disorientation as he came to grips with what was happening around him. His body was still submerged in the water, but what was of immediate concern was that he was allowing a massive amount of energy flow through his body and out into the pool, causing a vast beam of light to rise from the pool’s depth.

Sighing, Lucifer dispatched an errant thought to his energy centres that resided in his body to stop producing energy, and the pillar of light vanished. Lucifer cast his mind up and out to see who and what was around the pool. He felt the life force of several humans, monks from the close by abbey. Up above the valley, sitting on the edge of their mountains, the dragons waited with their timeless gaze fixed on the pool. Up even further floating in the sky were angels and not just any angels, archangels, angels who were stronger and more powerful than normal angels and older.

Getting up his courage, Lucifer rose up from the water until he was standing on its surface, casting his red glowing eyes around at the assembled watchers. Lucifer spoke and his words were more than just sound coming from his lips. They were words laced with energy and meaning that spread forth until even the very bedrock of the valley held them bound inside for all eternity.

“I am Lucifer! I have come to destroy you, nothing shall be spared, not man, not woman, not child, not even lily white angels. In my wake this world will change and the order you have known for thousands of years shall crumble to dust while you watch all that you hold dear perish in front of your very eyes.” Lucifer cast his eyes up at the angels that circled above, and with a faint smile spoke once more. “This world is mine and belongs to me and my brethren. You angel’s best flee or else face oblivion.”

The sound that followed was deafening for the various angels cast down their power at Lucifer in an attempt to destroy him, while at the same time the dragons roared their agreement.

Lucifer watched as the attacks of the angels rained down at him with an almost detached interested, before engaging his own otherworldly power, a red almost lighting-like energy which burst from his up raised, left hand. This energy surged forth like an avalanche of power sweeping away all that got in its way whether angel or any other thing. Many of the angels were cast back reeling like drunkards, however some few still had their wits about them and they were shooting down to attack Lucifer with their hands if need be.

Lucifer watched them come. He cringed internally for he knew what was to come, what he must do in order to cast the angels from this world and make it his in all the ways that mattered. Lucifer stretched forth his right hand and gathered power unused by any other sentient creature in the entire universe and all that lay beyond.

Darkness had formed in his right hand, darkness more profound than just an absence of light. It was an absence of the grace that existed in all matter, for it was opposite to all that lay in this universe. Lucifer cast it forth towards the descending angels, shot from his hand towards the angels, and its very passage seemed to distort the universe. Then it struck the nearest of angels square in the chest. He didn’t even get to scream, for the moment it impacted the angel, he broke apart, not as if he exploded, but more that he seemed to turn to dust which collapsed and flew into the black sphere of deadly energy until not even a trace of him was left, nor was there any trace of the energy sphere.

The angels were still as stones as they felt the concussion wave spread outwards from where the angel had stopped existing. The wave spread itself across the world in a few seconds, and every angel felt it regardless of where they were. And so did every man, woman and child, whether awake or asleep. They turned towards the epicentre of the wave and they felt a fear burn into their bones, a fear that would stay in the human psyche forever. For man had known what death was and they even knew to fear it, but this wasn’t death. This was oblivion, for the power Lucifer had harnessed had unmade the angel and even destroyed his soul. And that was what seeped into man’s mind, that death was the end of the human soul.

Lucifer regarded the angels who still flew above him, for their cries were great as they had just witnessed the ending of one of their own kind. Not just a body death where the soul became free to travel around and wait to be reborn into another vessel. Instead, it was a true death that could not be reversed by any means that they possessed.

Lucifer felt no pity as he looked up at the once proud angels who thought they ruled the heavens and all that lay beneath. And he spoke into their collective awareness.

“I have seen all that you were, all that you are and all that you will be. And I say that it will be no more. You have hunted and killed whole races, now prepare to be hunted. Prepare for I am coming and I will bring with me the tides of the horsemen. Your reign is ending. Mine is beginning!”

Lucifer looked upwards at the fleeing angels. Some of them had opened dimensional gates and were fleeing through them to other worlds, spreading the tale of the evil creature that had literally erased an entire angel, leaving nothing behind. Other angels had increased their angelic energy wings so that they could flee as fast as they could, to escape, not really caring where they were running to.

Lucifer smiled a savage smile for the fear that these angels possessed was nothing like that which he was going to deliver to them. Lucifer paused as he heard a whimpering. Turning, he saw the collective monks from the nearby abbey praying to their god for mercy and deliverance from this unholy creature that stood before them.

Lucifer regarded the monks. In truth, he didn’t want to kill them, but he had to get rid of them somehow. So Lucifer extended his hand and with a simple dismissive thought flung the monks across space and reality scattering them around Europe and the Middle East, so they could spread the tale of what had occurred here today.

Looking up once again, Lucifer forged wings of energy similar to the wings the angels used except that these wings were more powerful than the wings of any angel. They were shaped like a rhombus or an elongated diamond. There were four and each one had its shortest peak pointing towards Lucifer’s shoulder blades and each one shone with a ruby red light that spoke of unending malevolence.

Lucifer rose up into the air. At first he rose slowly, but as he got higher and higher he rose faster and faster. Until he was flying at supersonic speeds and all around him dragons flew around and around, circling. Lucifer glanced around for the sun and realised that it was already nightfall, midnight if the position of the moon was any indication, which meant Lucifer had spent over 12 hours in that pool when he had only thought it had been a few moments. Glancing back at the moon, an idea came to him that caused a smile to spread across his face that would have caused even serial killers to flinch back.

Lucifer looked down at the receding valley and a thought occurred to him, that if any other Hellspawn were to fall into that pool, they would come out the same as him or perhaps even worse. And so Lucifer gathered his will and invoked the Will of Heaven, the unending canopy of power, the light which turned this universe and all others to come. Lucifer felt the influx of energy into his body, and it was unlike anything he had ever felt. It was as if a tide of power was swaying through his mind, a tide of power that spoke of unending joy and sorrow. Lucifer’s mind expanded beyond human understanding. He became the planets that turn in their endless journey, and then he was the arms of galaxies as they flowed across space and time. He heard the sound of every atom crashing into one another.

Lucifer’s will however was greater than that of the energy which brought infinite bliss, and with his mind, heart and soul Lucifer turned the power on the universe and remade it anew. For around the valley, Lucifer forged a shield, a shield unlike any other, a shield wrought from time and memory.

Lucifer smiled, for what he had done made it impossible to enter into the valley let alone see it. The valley now existed between moments, forever sealed away from the world. The valley would never be disturbed by another creature from the outside world, and there would never arise any creature inside of the field, for Lucifer had locked the internal temporal field. A million years could pass by and only a second would occur inside of the sphere.

Lucifer increased his speed, until he was flying at supersonic speeds upward towards space. The dragons had flown away from him as soon as they had witnessed the valley being sealed off. Lucifer could feel the air around him become icily cold. Lucifer knew that his body could easily take this cold, but he wasn’t too sure about the vacuum that was space. So he summoned up his internal power, the demonic energies and tuned it through his body until he appeared as if he had rivers of red light flowing through his skin. Each river shifted and turned around and around his body keeping it at its optimal temperature, and also protecting him from all the other forms of radiation and other space hazards.

Lucifer flew out of the earth’s atmosphere and up till he floated in the exact middle between the Earth and the moon. Lucifer knew he was safe for the time being as angels wouldn’t or couldn’t travel into the vacuum of space. In fact they didn’t travel very far from any planetary body as they seemed to get weaker and weaker the further they travelled from any large planetary body.

Lucifer regarded the moon, shining with its normal reflection of the sun and today the various cities the angels maintained on the moon made it seem to come alive. Cities of light sprung up all around the moon, usually found on the endlessly flat plains. Lucifer could see angels walking around thinking themselves safe and secure from all harm as they had constructed an artificial atmosphere which they maintained around the entire moon, so they could come and go as they please without having to put any energy into maintaining their bodies from the hardships of space. And the angels in their pride saw no reason to ever check on whether there was ever going to be an attack on them.

Lucifer couldn’t help but feel amused at what lay before him. His task had been made so much simpler because of the angel’s pride. Pride and laziness would cost them this world.

Lucifer raised his hands above his head and a ball of energy appeared between them, an energy which bubbled and hissed as if it fought to be free of Lucifer’s grasp. Lucifer cast forth his ball of energy, casting it straight at the moon. The ball of energy flew straight and true, and it struck the energy shield around the moon with a burning flare of light.

The moon ignited.

The shield’s energies had mixed with the energy Lucifer had cast at the moon and they when fused together caused the oxygen in the very air to burn, burn like a flaming sun. And on the world down below a second sun rose in their night sky.

With a song in his heart and a sardonic laugh, Lucifer engaged his power and teleported back to the world below, his feet leaving the hundreds, if not thousands of angels burning upon their supposed safe haven.

After Lucifer had teleported away, his magics had left behind a wisp of red energy which danced around in a sphere as if it was a giant, glowing, red, demonic eye, before it too blinked out of existence, leaving Lucifer’s sardonic laughter, which echoed even in the void which was space.

The Blood Wars had started.

Gabriel’s reign

Turned the world to plunder

Lucifer’s madness

Tore the world asunder

- From Calypso’s ‘A History of Lucifer’, written 1602 A.D.