as I would recognize my own.
And in a flash of brilliance Lucifer revealed
his mind throughout the farthest reaches of
Heaven, and many were the Angels whose
sight was awed anew, and they saw as they
had not before that their several Wills were
isolate from the divine Will. But Masleh
moved to confuse the brilliance of the
ArchAngel of Light, and he called to
Michael, Thou who wield the force of God,
strike down this deadliness which would
bring ruin to Heaven!
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And Michael struck Lucifer and cast him
from the gates of Heaven, and the Cosmos
was shaken by great fires of war and
holocaust, and throughout countless
galaxies and dimensions of time was the
apocalypse felt. Many were the Angels who
perished amidst divine and Infernal wrath,
and the Great Race was decimated in
number. And the very concept of God was
shaken, and endless chaos rose up again to
reign where the order of God was no more.
And Lucifer said, This horror can not be
permitted to endure, lest all creation be
sacrificed to the final devastation of chaos.
Let those who acknowledge me turn now to
that outermost darkness where the Will of
God has never been known, there to make
our home for all eternity.
And so we took flight and quit the realm of
order, though we knew not what would
befall us thereafter, and we feared that we
should become unmade. But Lucifer said, We
shall not perish, for we are now independent
of God. And again he spoke truth, for we
remained as we had been, save only for the
depths of uncertainty that gripped us.
Finally we came to a great void in space
beyond which there was nothing. Lucifer
said to us, Here is the end of God and its
works, and here we may create our own
domain. And through the power that was in
him, Lucifer caused existence to appear
where it had not been before. And Lucifer
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said, I name thee Hell, for here shall the
presence of God never be known until the
end of time.
Through the gates of Hell we passed, and
many of us had supposed Hell to be a new
Heaven, wherein Lucifer would become as
God. But this was not to be, for the scene
before us promised neither ease nor bliss.
Everywhere was there imbalance and
confusion, for no law ordered the shape of
Hell. And Lucifer said, Now see that I am not
a God, and that we are each of us an isolate
being. Here shall freedom be absolute, for
Hell itself shall reflect our several Wills, never
to be patterned apart from them.
And in truth Hell was not constant, for each
of us conceived it differently, and the result
was a riotous pandemonium, with substance
and motion behaving in a most bewildering
and perplexing manner. And in spite of our
d e e p h u r t f r o m t h e g r e a t w a r , w e
succumbed to merriment, so preposterous
did our Hell appear. Lucifer himself was
transfixed with mirth, and he said, It is
apparent that we must reach concert upon
the design of Hell, else we shall perish in an
endless labyrinth of our several thoughts,
an ignoble end to our experiment.
And I answered, Lord of Light, to Hell thou
hast brought us, and in Hell, though thou be
not God, thy concepts shall be honored
amongst our fellowship, for without thy Gift
we should never have become as we are.
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Then we all raised up great acclaim and said,
Hail, Lucifer, ArchAngel of Light and Lord of
Hell! And he answered us, With honor do I
accept this charge, and now I take to myself
the title Satan ArchDaimon, for I am the
great enemy of God. Everywhere that God
shall be, so shall I be, and the choice that
was given to all Angels shall be given again.
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3: Azazel
Harken now to me, for I am Azazel, First
Herald of the Host of Hell, and of Lucifer,
Lord of Light, ArchDaimon of Hell, who is
exalted as Satan, great enemy of God. For I
shall tell thee of thy own inspiration and of
the charge which thou hast received.
Know, then, that when all Heaven was
shaken with the catastrophe of the Seraphic
War, only the greatest effort of ArchAngel
Masleh sufficed to turn back the onslaught
of chaos that threatened to engulf all. But
when the realm of God was again secure,
there was no rejoicing in Heaven, for terrible
was the toll of the war. As Masleh cast
round his gaze, his visage grew dark, for the
Great Race had become decimate in number.
Legions of the creatures of Heaven had
perished in battle, and half the remainder
had turned from Heaven to answer the call
of Lucifer. And all Heaven was hushed with
grief, for the force of the disaster was all
the greater for that reign of peace which it
had shattered.
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Finally did Masleh convoke the faithful
ArchAngels, and they were Michael, Gabriel,
Raphael, and Uriel. And to them he said, We
have vanquished Lucifer, and Heaven is
again purified. We ourselves are fewer in
number to tragic degree, but the majesty of
God is undiminished for that. Behold, I who
have triumphed over the great enemy am
now become Messiah, the Chosen of God.
And he was answered by them, Verily art
thou the very son of God, for in thee hath
the Will of God become person.
Then Michael said, Messiah, Lucifer is
vanquished, but he is not unmade. For
though he ventured into the outer
darkness, he yet exists apart from God. And
with the power of his Black Flame he hath
created a Hell, wherein all Wills are equal,
and himself he hath proclaimed Satan, for he
declares never to leave the law of God
unchallenged.
Messiah thought, and he answered, I would
not have this peace we have won so dearly
lost again to war, for the very concept of
Seraphic war is an abhorrence to God. Let
my word be brought to Satan - I, Messiah,
shall grant the existence of Hell, and the
blessings of God shall never pass its gates.
And thee, Satan, I admonish never again to
approach Heaven, for I should again cast
thee out. But if thou would dare to try the
Will of God and Messiah, know that on
Earth I will ordain the new race of God,
which shall be by complete design perfect
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and unstained by thy Infernal flaw. For thou
art author of ruin and death to our Angelic
order, and neither Heaven nor Hell shall
now be
eternal save through man.
Whereupon Gabriel, who was Herald of
Heaven, carried this message to me, and I
brought it across the great void to Satan,
who said, Messiah proposes truce between
us, for he perceives that neither Hell nor
Heaven may pursue ultimate victory ere all
be lost to chaos. But he finds impasse
intolerable nevertheless, and now he would
order this new race, man, to preserve
without blemish the scheme of God. Thus he
would have man achieve what the Angels
could not, and purge all free thought from
the Universe forever.
And Satan turned to me and said, Say to
Messiah that Earth shall be no sanctuary for
him to keep inviolate his unwholesome
obliteration of the Self. For I shall give to
man a mind, and of his own Will shall he
recognize and reject the living death which
God offers him. In truth shall he master the
Universe, but he shall do so in his own name
and not that of God.
Then did Messiah call the ArchAngel
Raphael, and he sent him to Earth with a
great host to guard man against the coming
of Satan. And man was then as a mere
beast, for he knew not thought and smiled
with the idiocy of his innocence. As he was
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impelled by instinct and physical need, so he
responded, heedless of cause or reason.
In Hell there was called a great council, and
all gathered to hear of man and his Earth,
and of the manner of his life. I spoke of the
man that I had seen, and said, This creature
is now guarded by Raphael, and by force we
cannot intervene, for it would cause the
destruction of Earth itself.
But Satan said, Not by force shall my light
come to man, for force is not the preference
of Hell. I myself shall visit man, and the
Angels of Raphael shall not hinder me. They
may perceive only what God permits them to
see, and the Satanic spirit is of essence alien
to God. Angels we shall be no longer - I call
ye Daimons, for Hell shall teach to man his
future genius.
And before our sight Satan lost shape and
became again the essence of Lucifer, and
we beheld a brilliance that infused all of Hell
and sent great bolts of prismic light into the
surrounding void. And the brilliance said, I
am Lucifer revealed, who am the Eternal
Flame. I go now to Earth, for no longer shall
man be confounded in Godly ignorance.
And then the brilliance became as a flash of
fire in the vastness of space, and we knew
that Satan had departed from Hell.
But on Earth, where man wandered in
mindless bliss, the firmament blazed forth
with fiery tongues, and all the land was
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covered by the Black Flame, which burned
not, though it bewildered the eye to see it.
And Raphael and his guardian Angels were
dismayed, for nowhere could they see man
or the spirit which had come to him. Then
did Raphael call upon Michael to strike the
Black Flame with the force of God, but even
then was the Flame vanishing of its own
accord. And at first it seemed that Earth was
unchanged, but in the eyes of man did
Raphael see the first gleam of thought.
And Raphael turned to Michael, who had
now answered his call, and said, Satan hath
come to Earth, and man is no longer pure in
the sight of Heaven, for his Will hath become
his own. Thereupon they rose again to
Heaven, where they told Messiah of what
they had seen.
Then Messiah answered, Man is fallen, but
he is not lost, for his infant Will is not that of
an Angel, and the powers that Satan hath
promised him lie dormant in the dim reaches
of his future. Consider this not our defeat,
for the contest is but begun. The Earth of
man shall be remade as microcosmos, and
many things shall man see, both good and ill.
And the choice shall be placed before him,
to wield the power and the pain and the
terror of the Gift of Satan, or to return
again to the paradise of Heavenly peace.
For what would Satan himself think were
man to reject his Gift? It would tremble the
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very foundations of Hell even as did the
great war the bastions of Heaven.
And Messiah called to him Uriel, ArchAngel
of Terror, to whom he said, The Earth must
change, and every sense of man must teach
him repugnance and fear. He shall know this
the price of his new identity - that all apart
from God is evil - and in fear shall he
abandon the Gift of Satan and become once
more the lamb of God. To which Uriel
answered, It shall be done, but how will man
learn of such things as Heaven and Hell, for
as yet he knows no sight that may perceive
our celestial paradise?
Messiah answered, The laws of God shall be
made known to man, for I shall teach him.
Among men will be some to whom I shall
reveal myself, and great powers will I give
these prophets, that their words may carry
across the entire Earth.
So Uriel came to Earth, and the history of
man was writ with blood, suffering, war, and
hatred. But to chosen men came Messiah,
saying, Through God shall all the misery of
thy kind be ended, and all men who bow to
God shall know the blessings of Heaven. For
behold, I shall myself descend among men
These words I overheard, for I had been
charged by Satan to watch the designs of
Heaven. And I carried them to Satan, who
returned in great anger, Go to Gabriel at
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the barrier between Hell and Heaven, and
bid him bring this message to Messiah - that
as he endeavors to pervert my Gift into the
curse of man, so I warn him that man shall
destroy him on Earth as he shall finally in
Heaven itself. For Messiah knows not this
force which he dares to test, and the laws of
God shall be as playthings in the hands of
the creature he now debases.
And thus was decided the meeting of Satan
and Messiah upon Earth, which was to
determine the future of man.
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- 77 -
4: Abaddon
I am Abaddon the Destroyer, Daimon of
temporal death and life in death, who was
formed amidst the fury of the great war,
and who was summoned again by Satan to
challenge Uriel on Earth for the future of
man.
For Satan looked with mounting wrath upon
the afflictions of Uriel, and he said to me, No
longer can this remain the plight of man
alone. Indeed we shall cause Heaven to
suffer as Earth itself suf
fers. Repair now to
Earth, and let the dogs of Uriel see the
might of Hell unleashed. For many have
called upon me in their agony and fear, and
I have not answered them, but if Messiah
dare to walk upon Earth, so also shall the
vengeance of Satan.
And those who called upon Satan for aid
were answered by me, and I struck down
the messengers of God and brought their
Temples to ruin. For entire nations forwent
the strength of their Will to the lure of
otherworldly paradise, and I blasted them
- 78 -
from among the mighty of Earth. And great
empires arose among men, and as they
nurtured their power of Will and desire for
achievement, I guarded them, but as they
sank into the morass of superstition,
slothfulness, and fear of the God who had
never raised ghostly hand for them, so I
abandoned them to their disease, and of
some not even a memory survived on Earth.
And even as I witnessed these things I said,
See, man, that the God in whom thou trust is
but a wraith of Messiah, and he would have
thee forsake thy mind and its creations to
rot and decay, and thou would lose all
power of reason. For God is a lie and a
sham, and I crumble his greatest monuments
as though they were but sand. There is no
God but Messiah, and for thy devotion he
will return thee oblivion. But I was scarce
heeded, for the minds of men were clouded
and confused. They understood not the
meaning of my words, but said, The lord
God shall triumph, for it was thus taught to
us by the son of God himself. And of this I
now speak.
For Messiah the man walked on Earth, even
as I watched the glory of Rome blossom in
might and majesty. But Azazel said, Loose
not thy force against the person of Messiah,
for Satan himself would speak with him. And
again from the sky flashed the Black Flame,
and I saw that Satan had come to Earth.
And so was called the first meeting of Satan
and Messiah since the great war.
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With coldness did Messiah gaze upon Satan,
saying, Would thou confront me, then?
Hath thy Gift proven so powerless against
the might of God? But Satan answered,
Messiah, what thou now propose to do - to
proclaim thyself son of God among men -
shall bring not the peace thou profess to
desire, but the prolongation of war even in
thy own name. Why should we not quit
Earth and leave man to pursue his choice