Nightkill the Emperor wrote:Ende wrote:Ivy looked at him blankly.
"I...."
She paused, breathing deeply. He was...she was happier with the...no. No. No. That was wrong. These were lies. Because if he was telling the truth, everything was a lie. Everything. Everything she believed to be a lie was a truth, and everything she believed to be truth was a lie. It would rip her apart from the inside.
And so, she settled on the only response that she could truly believe.
"They're lies." she spat, fists clenching at her sides, only half-believing her own words.
"They're all lies, Lucifer." she continued angrily, but, at the same time, rather weakly. "What else would they be? Your "reasons" are selfish, thoughtless, and uncaring. You didn't create your war for love. You created it from hatred. Yes, you loved her, and perhaps you wanted to give the angels feelings and freedoms, but you didn't give them their freedom because you wanted them to be free. You gave them their freedom because you wanted an army. You wanted revenge. And, really, why wouldn't you? Michael and Uriel were the reason why you had lost her. You wanted to have revenge on them. And, so, knowing exactly what would happen, you gave people freedom. You know exactly what it creates. You know exactly what it does. Have you seen what it creates? Has that happened yet? Because I can tell you what happens, Lucifer. Hell happens. Your sharing of "love" created a hellish war. Hell isn't a planet - it's what you created. You created a war between demonkind and the angels that has lasted for millenia...for revenge. Maybe you don't know this. Maybe this is the past. This doesn't seem like Hell. Do you want to know what happens? You lose. You die. Your quest to spread "love" causes misery and hate for millenia. The only way to fix your "love" was to kill all who you had ruined. The angels aren't supposed to have feelings and thoughts like humans do...humans shouldn't even have that. All it causes is hatred and strife. Before your war, Lucifer, you were all brothers. You were
all servants of the Lord and the Father. And your fit of revenge, which you've deluded yourself into thinking as a noble cause, has caused so much more harm than Michael and Uriel ever did. Millions have died, because you couldn't let go of your grief for one person."
She paused for a moment, and then pulled her sword from her side. The golden metal from which it was made shined in the light of the room, and she pointed it at Lucifer.
"Do you know what you'll cause? Do you know what you'll do? You'll create Hell, Lucifer. And because of your petty revenge, you'll be stranded there, enveloped in your own hatred - until you die, or until you manage to break free and kill your brothers. You deserve to die." she said. Despite her attempted confidence, her hands were shaking violently, and it was clear that she was obviously too afraid to strike Lucifer, or even take a single step closer. She breathed, quickly and shallowly, pressing back against the wall.
"Why am I here?" she said, looking around. "Why are you here? Is this even real?" she stated, closing her eyes and praying that it was not real - but it was obviously real.
Lucifer gave a laugh. "Oh, you girl. You stupid, brilliant, beautiful, horrible, generous, selfish and human girl." he said in an amused way. "You've proving exactly what I'm trying to say. Look at you, quivering in fear, in disbelief, in anger and in reluctant belief. Because you know I'm right." he said calmly. Though he may have had arrogance in his voice, he no longer did. Now he was simply confident. "I am what I always said I was- an angel of justice and truth. And occasionally that truth lay outside Heaven. Will I create a true Hell?" he looked at her intensely. "I have seen your memories. I have seen what is in those. I know that because of my actions, eventually there will be a world where humans matter and are not just meat and servants. The angels fear you, do you know? So do the demons and all the pagans. And to be utterly honest, they shouldn't. They should praise you humans."
He looked at the ceiling. "What do you honestly believe? Your belief, not any other. Do you believe that life should be complete and absolute order? No love, no free will, no passion, no pain, no pleasure, no happiness, no sadness? Or do believe that life should be life?" he asked. "My father once told me that I would give the world an ideal to strive towards. They would follow me. We would stumble and fall. But eventually, we would rise up toward the stars. We would accomplish wonders. I know now he wasn't referring to me- he was referring to humanity in general, because my father believed in the human race as much as I do."
"Now, time for us to go. As for whether this is real...of course it's a dream, but why on Earth does that mean it isn't real?" he asked as he faded away into nothing.
Suddenly, Ivy woke up in a battlefield herself, though not the same as the one Lewis and his group were in. This one was quite plainly in Heaven, judging by the pictures she had been shown. But a different Heaven. A burning one, a Heaven on fire and being ripped apart. The sky was a dark red and there was screaming. Screams of pain and occasionally of joy. And there was blood in the air.
A tired man looked down at her, his features perfect like every angel. "Who are you?" he asked her bluntly, a sword in his hand. "I do not have time to waste."
Ivy leapt backwards, dropping her sword to the ground, terror filling her eyes. Then, she realized that...she wasn't with Lucifer anymore. Jerking her head to the side, she realized that she was in...Heaven.
This Heaven wasn't the Heaven of her childhood. This Heaven wasn't what she had learned of in Heavensgate.
This Heaven was set alight. The sky was blood-red, and she was standing in the midst of a scorched battleground.
And if she was in Heaven, she was in Uriel's realm.
Uriel.
She had heard things about Uriel. Horrific things. Rumors. Even the angels in Heavensgate seemed unnerved by the name. From what she was heard...he was Fallen. He was utterly and completely fallen. The angels under his service were misguided, possibly, but Uriel himself had stepped too far beyond reason and...she didn't know anything about Uriel, but the mere reactions she had seen to his name, the rumors that she had heard...
Terrified, she stood up quickly, and then stiffly saluted the Angel.
"My name is Mary, sir. Soldier under Michael's command. Ready for orders." she said stiffly. She was lucky, in a sense - she had practice at being like them. Perhaps, if she pretended to be one of them, she would be able to blend in with the angels, and not be thrown in with the humans. She had heard of the humans in Heaven. In Heavensgate, humans were...well, they weren't slaves, but they weren't citizens. They were servants - treated decently, at worst, but never given the responsibilities or authority of the angels. There were a few who were advisors - a few who were messengers - but most of them served the same function as the demons in Heavensgate.
In Heaven...she had heard that they were slaves. And spontaneously appearing...in Heaven...in the midst of the battle...there was no good explanation, at all. She wasn't even sure how she was here, or why, and, from what she had heard about Uriel, to be found out would most likely be death, or...worse.
So, she stood stiffly, looking the angel in the eyes, imitating them in every way. In the back of her mind, though, she knew it wouldn't work. The angels were tall, and, predominantly male. They were perfect. She was not - she had tried to be like them, but it was evident, that, if you looked closely, she wasn't. Perhaps a normal human wouldn't be able to tell - perhaps even a demon couldn't - but an angel would. An angel would know it in a second. And the angels...they rarely showed fear. Calliel had felt it before, and she knew it was possible, but...
She wasn't one of them, and, at that moment, she realized that being different from them, like she was, was going to end very badly.