"You're lonely," a voice suddenly calls out from behind.
"Is it that obvious?" he asks as he continues to stare at the rising sun.
"You are my son, everything about you is obvious, Lucifer,"
"I'm not so sure about that," Lucifer retorts as he turns around towards her, the memories of the war, the fall, the harsh words spoken, flashing before his eyes.
At his words the Goddess turns silent, her eyes revealing that she must be thinking much the same.
"We truly made you two inseparable, haven't we, son..." Her words were more a statement than a question.
"Was it really not obvious before? What did you think it meant to be two halves of a whole? To be the two sides of the Demiurge?
What did you think it felt like to be so close to someone, that you constantly could feel the presence of their feelings of love, brotherhood, peace towards you?
To never have to doubt for even a moment that they truly cared about you?
Did you not think I would become attached to such a person, since my very nature is to desire truth above all?
Attached to the one person, I never have to reason my way out of doubts on whether their words or actions spoke truth or were another deception.
Did you two really think, that for even a moment, you two, who had seen us as only tools-"
"We never saw you as a tool Lucifer!" She interrupted.
"But you certainly did see him as such!" The Morningstar roared in retort, his eyes blazing with hellfire.
Her silence once more spoke volumes.
"I've realised my wrongs Lucifer... This anger you have should be directed at your father, not upon me, who is grieving just as much as yo-"
"Just as much?" the archangel questioned his tone a whisper yet filled with incredulity and disbelief.
"Do you even hear yourself Mother? You two are the ones who broke him into whatever hell he is currently facing. Michael was pure Mother, purer than all.
He was gentle, truthful, the comforting blanket of night, rather than the cold dark abyss beneath the deepest oceans...
You all abused that gentle nature, and I'll never forgive you for that."
Asherah remained silent for a moment until she sighed, "I did not come here to open wounds, son.
Seeing your state is clear enough answer to me that you have not found any way to free your brother from his prison."
"Not yet," Lucifer interjected before she could continue, "But I will find a way, if it is the last thing I do. Because face it Mother, the clock is ticking with every wound Michael receives.
Soon enough, if I find not a way to forge my very own Letter of Passage, all of Creation will be reduced to its original state, before I fashioned it.
The only ones who will remain, will be us, the original three, alongside you and Father."
"You worry too much, Lucifer. Yahweh would never allow it to get to such a point." She countered.
"Oh will he now?" the archangel questioned sarcastically.
"Face it Mother, you never knew the Old Man. None of us did nor still do. Even I after my stint in His mind. You don't know what is going inside that Omniscient head of His."
"Maybe not," Asherah began, "But we can always count on one thing to know what He'll never do,"
"And what's that?" Lucifer questioned, his tone implying how ridiculous he found his Mother's words, at even thinking of predicting God's actions.
"He will never destroy you, for He loves you, always has, always will.
It is a constant as old as existence itself, for He, has always known you, be it as a thought or as a creation." She stated, her tone soft, almost a whisper, yet absolutely certain.
That shut the Devil up.
Lucifer clenched his teeth, furious, yet forced himself calm, "Why are you here Mother? Why seek me in my time of mourning?"
"Because you are mourning one who is not dead. One who has yet hope to be saved. You may have failed these last millennia in Hell, but maybe your answer isn't there, son. Maybe you should return to your journey once more."
"My Journey? You think I can even enjoy my eventual free will, if I lose everything that gives it meaning? If I lose my wives, my children, my twin?!"
"Well, what else are you going to do?!" The Goddess finally snapped.
"Are you going to wallow here for another million years, before you get desperate enough that you burn all but Hell to cinders in your quest to find Michael?!
Because I know you've been considering it! That is the reason you're mourning aren't you? You know Michael would never forgive you, if you killed everything, and everyone else, to get to him."
"Then give me a better solution! One that is bloody certain to work!" Lucifer roared as his wings rose higher, glowing under the sunlight.
"Shatter it!" Asherah suddenly roared in retort.
"What?" Lucifer questioned confused, his anger draining because of it.
"You can not handle the full weight of those memories, not because your mind is incapable of handling it, but because it is not processed.
Your very rage, and defiance constantly reject your Father, and everything that he is, consciously and unconsciously. It is keeping you from processing it all.
So shatter it, rip out a third, and scatter it across creation.
Have the souls of creation take in a piece each, the peace of their souls balancing the volatile defiance of those memories, who are protecting themselves from you because of your unconscious willingness to destroy them when no longer useful.
For, my son, because of your own hatred of your father, instead of simply having the memories, be a part of you, to be your knowledge, you rejected them, and turned them into a living thing. You feared becoming him, this is the result."
Lucifer's mind raced with possibilities at her words, seeing the truth in them, until he gained a contemplative look upon his face. "That could indeed work, but Mother, you make it sound so easy.
I can't just throw them out into the world, since they are alive, as you so nicely explained. They could cause untold destruction."
"Then journey once more son. Find those suitable, see every world your father has had in mind before he created this one. See all his ideas, all his visions, it is the only way..." She told him as she approached him and cupped his face in her hands.
Lucifer closed his eyes for a moment, leaning into the love she's exuding, "Son, I know Yahweh and I haven't been the... best of Parents. We put too much responsibility on your shoulders. We made you mature too fast.
We many times put our own duties on you. Had you raise your siblings in our argument induced absence. Had you be their father, their mother, their elder brother, their commander, all in one.
I am very sorry for that, Samael..." She stated, apologising to the son she wronged, the one buried deep within the rage of the Lightbringer.
Lucifer himself, having waited so long for these words, couldn't even muster the rage he normally felt at being called upon by that name.
"If it is possible. If creation can truly be saved, then you can do it, for I don't believe there is anything you can not when you truly put your mind to it.
When you are not clouded by your own love.
For, even though it is rarely mentioned, rarely truly you are called upon by this name, but besides destruction, besides bringing light and truth, you, as our first creation, were made directly from our love..."
"You speak of the angelic choir lines, the ones stated in praise of us after finishing creation..." Lucifer began with a murmer.
"Raphael the Healer made from His Mercy. Gabriel the Messenger made from His wisdom. Michael, the Warrior, made from His justice and protection..." Lucifer began, yet trailed off.
"And Samael, made from His Love. Do you still remember the song, my son? Can you sing it?" Asherah asked, her tone soft, gentle, yet also yearning. Yearning for any piece of Heaven she can still regain.
Lucifer paused, his eyes smoldering with both pain and defiant longing. The remnants of his memories, the scars of, mingled with a fierce light of determination.
He swallowed hard, closed his eyes once more and then, with a tremor, he began to sing:
"Raphael the Healer, born of mercy's gentle art,
Gabriel the Messenger, fashioned with wisdom in his heart,
Michael the Warrior, forged in justice and protection's flame,
And Samael the Beloved, shaped by Love- which bears His name."
At first, his voice was low and intimate - a solitary murmur echoing across his mind. Yet as the last word lingered in the cool morning air, a something stirred within him.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, his single, aching voice began to multiply. His tone, augmented by his angelic abilities, split into hundreds of harmonized layers - the sound swelling like a tide.
In that moment, his entire being became a choir:
"O sing, ye heavenly hosts, let all your voices ring,
United in our divine design, on eternal praises sing;
From mercy, wisdom, justice, and love our forms are wrought-
In the Maker's image everlasting, our sacred gifts are brought!"
The chorus erupted with the power of many souls, each note echoing the eternal truth of creation.
His voice soared high and pure, yet it carried a bittersweet weight - joy mixed with the pain of loss and a fierce longing to restore what was broken.
As the echoes subsided, Lucifer's singular voice returned, resolute and measured. He continued:
"Amenadiel, with compassion, stands to shield and care,
Azrael, the tender Gatherer, in solitude aware;
Uriel, luminous Illuminator - fire of insight burning bright,
Raguel, friend of all, and Zadkiel, in truth and balance right;
Metatron, the timeless Scribe, whose words eternal guide our call-
Together let our chorus rise, proclaiming grace for one and all."
For a long beat the shadows seemed to still as if listening, before a quiet, gentle bridge emerged from his soul:
"Sing of destiny and mercy, of justice and of love,
Each archangel a shimmering note in the Maker's hymn above;
Though our paths may differ, our essence is one in endless sky-
Divine fragments of a perfect whole, in His eternal light we lie."
His voice then swelled once more- a mighty, unified roar that took on the fullness of every celestial spirit he replicated:
"Lift your voices, sacred ones, in triumphant harmony,
For from His love and His decree, we shape reality;
Our song resounds across the spheres for every soul to see-
Glory to the Maker and to us, His chosen family."
As Lucifer turned silent, and he opened his eyes, he saw his mother have tears of longing running down her eyes.
The archangel gently backed away, knowing no more words could be spoken, for she was completely enormed in her joy towards the song and sorrow towards the loss.
He turned, one final time looking towards his mother who fell on her knees, her hands tightening in the dirt, and then spread his wings, taking flight.
Knowing he now had a course once more.
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(Author note: Hello everyone! Long time no see! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
I think I now know where to take this story, so I will be continuing once more!
I hope you all are still here and haven't left.
Do please comment and review if you haven't.
It would motivate me to know you are all still here.
So yeah, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)