Regnum Dei

1,000 years after the rebellion

“Heh.” Lucifer scoffed. “This place is majestic as always.”

The castle in white, is indeed majestic. In fact, majestic didn't even come close to describing the castle.

As it should be. For this the castle of the king of kings, the First Existence, the Holy Allfather, the Creator. This white palace, is a place belonging to God.

And now, a thousand years, the disobedient child returned.

Lucifer was about to fly straight to the balcony, when he stood rooted in place. Somebody was already waiting for him. Someone he used to hate. Someone he missed dearly.

“Peace be upon you, my child.” Allfather greeted him. As always, a bright smile was on His face. Warm, friendly, and welcoming.

Lucifer had been trying hard to keep calm. But having Allfather welcoming him with open arms, it was heart wrenching. The guilt stabbed his heart.

“Allfather! Your ungrateful child asks for Your forgiveness!” Lucifer summoned all his strength. He kneeled, and yelled his intention.

There was quite a distance between them. A fully loaded sixteen wheeler could comfortably park there. Yet God only took a step towards Lucifer, and He is already standing in front of him.

God helped Lucifer up. “I have already forgiven you, my child.”

“But…Allfather…”

God jokingly frowned at Lucifer. “Oh? Is that another rebellion coming?”

“I…I wouldn't dare, Allfather!”

“Good! Then all is forgiven. Come. It's a great day today. Let's have a wonderful picnic lunch.”

Thus, the two flew towards the Garden of Eden. 

###

That afternoon, two biblically sworn enemies had a lovely picnic under the Forbidden Tree.

“You had a terrible sense of humor as always, Your Majesty.” The Devil sneered.

“Hahaha. Oh come on. You nearly destroyed Heaven. The least you could do is to give me the right to tease you.”

“Until when?”

“For eternity.” God said teasingly. And then He broke into laughter.

Lucifer pouted. But then, he also broke down laughing. Lucifer had never felt more at peace than right now.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

After a while, and a sandwich and wine later, Lucifer thought of something. Something that had bugged him since a thousand years ago.

“I still can't figure it out, Allfather.”

God looked at Lucifer interestingly. “About what?”

“About this.” Lucifer said, pointing to the Forbidden Tree. “What's so bad about eating the Fruit?”

Instead of answering, God lied down. For a while, it was silent. God is looking at the sky, and Lucifer is looking at Him. Waiting for an answer.

“Why do you rebel, my child?”

‘This guy…never a straight answer, huh?’ Lucifer grumbled in his mind. “At the time…perhaps I was a bit…jealous. We angels, are intelligent and obedient to You to a fault. While these humans, they betrayed Your love with their emotions and choices. And still, You deemed their love superior to ours.”

God said nothing, so Lucifer continued. “After the rebellion, I was sent to Hell. To be responsible to cleanse their souls of the sins they made from disobeying You. And for a while, my position in Hell only strengthened my doubts about their existence.”

“As I sentenced them, judging them, their whole lives laid bare before me. After a while, I began to realize, these people just missed You a lot. Knowingly or unknowingly, they yearn for You. They may have strayed from Your path, but even that cannot betray their longing for You.”

Lucifer wiped the stream of tears flowing down his cheeks. “Thus, I cannot help but agree with You. Their love is greater. While we are born to obey, these creatures chose to love You. And almost all of them do so, however painful that may be.”

His eyes then turned fierce. “Which is why I cannot understand this-this-this abuse you put them through. You must know, as creatures of the heart, a human will succumb to temptation. So why…”

God let Lucifer pour his heart out. He was always a good listener, plus hearing Lucifer's honest thoughts was what He wanted in the first place.

Once Lucifer had calmed down, he asked again. “Why did you rebel?”

‘Eish, this old man. Haven't I answered already?” Lucifer grumbled in his mind. “...because I thought that humans are bad news.”

“So you thought wrong.” God persisted.

“...Yes.”

“Hence, you chose wrong.”

Lucifer was a bit annoyed. “...yes, Allfather. I chose wrong. It seems that I am not smart after all.”

God smiled knowingly. “That's where you're wrong, my sweet boy.”

“Huh?”

God gently grabbed Lucifer's shoulders. “My child, you are the most intelligent creation of mine. You are the best of them all. And yet, even you, made the wrong choice.”

Lucifer couldn't help but scratch his head. “I don't understand, Allfather.”

“Hehehe, it's quite simple really. Everyone thinks that they made the right choice. And I am the one who screwed them over. And yet, I haven't done anything to you all. I just create.”

Lucifer nodded. God continued. “Although your choices are good in their intentions, each option has its own consequences. Cause and effect. I am just the creator. I merely created the path and the obstacles laying in wait should you choose that particular path. You're the one that walks it.”

“Hence, it is imperative that all of you learn about it. About the existence of karma.”

Lucifer was unconvinced. “But why is there a need for bad choices at all, Allfather. Why not make every choice a good one? Or at least, make the good choice free of consequences?”

“Heh. The irony. I can't believe you're the one saying that.”

Lucifer's eyes opened wide. “Huh? What do You mean?”

“Remember, when Adam was first created. All you had to do was bow in respect. Not to him, but to my design. My creation. You just had to nod slightly, and you would still be here. And yet, not only you rebel against me, you even corrupted my creations. Even conspire against the demon species to fight against heaven.”

Lucifer was too shocked to even acknowledge it. Had he been this stupid? He thought he grasped the core of the incident a thousand years ago. Turns out, he had only just seen the surface of it.

That's right. A choice cannot be a hundred positive good and a hundred percent bad. Because at the end of the day, a choice is made by emotions. Self judgement made by a combination of facts and personal emotions. The best choice, might not be the one selected at all.

“My child, whatever your intention is, if you jumped into the water, you have to be wary of the sharks. I cannot, nor would I want to, force you to a path. Rather I gave total control of your life to you. Hence why I cannot totally separate the choices into simply good or bad.”

“The only thing I can do, is to control the degree of it. Some choices are more good than bad, and vice versa. But at the end of the day, it is still up to you.”

Lucifer could only nod as he hung his head in shame.

God let go of Lucifer's shoulders.

After a while, God spoke. “Right now, you have two choices.”

Lucifer stared right into God's eyes. Affection and obedience in his gaze. He said nothing. Waiting on God's beck and call.

“As I ordained, you can only enter Heaven once Judgement Day arrives and all humans have been cleansed of their sins.”

“Yet, to see humans being tortured broke my heart. Still, you have been just and fair. Dishing out punishments in proportion to their wrongdoings.”

“Hence, I offer you two choices. You could keep Hell the way it is, a torture chamber. Or you could give the humans a second chance of life. As I did when I cast them to Earth.”

It doesn't take long for Lucifer to stumble upon an answer. If God wanted him to be merciful, of course he would do it. 

Yet, before he could answer, God spoke first. “I have to warn you though, if you change Hell into a second Earth, it will take you considerably longer to enter Heaven. Plus those demons, and your brothers and sisters who have been enjoying their promotion with you gone will probably retaliated as well.”

Lucifer smiled. This time, God outline the consequences of each choice perfectly. Now, Lucifer can't complain even if he made the wrong choices.

Still, who cares. He would happily throw his life away for his beloved Allfather. “I will follow your wish, Allfather.”

“Hehehe, great. Iam glad. Thank you, my child.”

And so, the two spend the rest of the day in Eden. Joyfully making up to the thousand years they lost.