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It was a well-known fact that angels were amongst the holiest ranks that a mortal soul could reach. If a mortal followed the rules laid out by the Heavens, then they became an angel. They, for lack of a better word, won. And once they’d won, they got eternal peace and rest. They never needed to work again, never needed to choose to do the right thing, because they were in! Once you found your eternal resting place, you had no risk of being thrown out, demoted, of falling.
Angels were… the best, and demons were the worst. The plan was for mortals to forever achieve Heaven while evil lurked, trapped within the depths of Hell. That was the plan. It was the plan for Adam and Lilith, and then Adam and Eve, and it was the plan for all future progeny the pairs created. Once Lilith left, the initial plan was thrown off, but it was a simple fix. The Elders wanted mortals to live happy lives, if Lilith didn’t want Adam, then they’d give Adam a new bride; Eve.
So, despite the small… hiccup in their plans, everything went right back onto track.
And then Lucifer fell.
The Heavens watched as Lucifer fell, as his body was engulfed in reds and orange, as a trail of smoke marked the sky. They watched as Lucifer fell with the concubine he’d corrupted, the she-devil wrapped in his arms, once pristine wings wrapping around her. Lucifer had given Lilith the gift of choice, had helped her gain the courage to leave Adam and she’d chosen to join Lucifer’s side. But Lucifer would’ve never allowed evil onto earth.
The first woman had done something, tricked him somehow, used his affection for her and led him to corrupting Eve. They knew Lilith had suggested it, had encouraged everything. That Lucifer, despite his wishes to give all mortals free will and the chance to choose their own paths, no guide in sight, wouldn’t have allowed evil onto earth. And yet, because he fell for the first woman, because he wanted to assist her in her dreams, dreams that aligned with his on the surface, he was falling.
He didn’t deserve it. But he’d been led to it. And for the rest of eternity, Lucifer would forever be refused entry to his home, to his family. Lucifer would never be able to return to Heaven, and Lilith would never understand what that was like, because Lilith was never an angel.
But the big question was, did Lucifer’s fall really change anything? Sure, evil found its way onto earth, but… was it really expected that evil would always stay in Hell? That mortals would never disobey Gods rules? If anything, Lucifer’s fall provided more… equality. Instead of the good going to heaven, and… the good being the only mortals to inhabit the earth, suddenly everything was balanced. Was that good? That’s debatable.
With balance being introduced mortals gained completely free will, they could follow Gods rules, or they could disobey. They gained the right to enter Hell instead of Heaven, to be punished to eternal damnation instead of rewarded with eternal paradise. And all of it was Lucifer and Lilith’s fault.
…Except was it really their fault? Completely their fault? Yes, Lilith convinced Lucifer to help Eve, and Lucifer convinced Eve to eat the apple. But Eve convinced Adam to eat the apple as well. That could be considered Lucifer’s fault by default, and extended, it could be considered Lilith’s fault entirely. But what about Cain?
Lucifer didn’t convince Cain to sin. Lilith didn’t convince Cain to sin. Eve didn’t convince Cain to sin. Adam didn’t convince Cain to sin. No one convinced Cain to sin. …Unless, of course, you considered Lilith to be the cause of Eve’s corruption. What does this mean? Well… Lucifer was the one to convince Eve, but he never would’ve done so without Lilith’s influence, so does that mean it was Lucifer’s fault or Lilith’s fault? Was it both of their fault?
Indirect causation would probably be the simplest way to explain. But how does that link into Cain?
Indirectly, Lilith, Lucifer, Eve and Adam all assisted in pushing Cain towards sin. However, on a closer level of indirect causation, God’s rejection of Cain’s offering was what drove Cain to commit sin. Does that mean God caused it? Did Abel deserve to be the first victim of murder in existence when God caused Cain’s fury and jealousy? Did Cain deserve to be punished by his God for two reasons?
Frankly, that question is unclear. It’s unclear who to blame when looking at the whole picture with an unbiased eye, but the Elders of Heaven, Lucifer’s fellow Seraphims, they decided unanimously that Lucifer caused it, and while Lilith influenced everything, it was Lucifer’s fault. They both got punished, and they resented Lilith for her influence, but Lucifer was punished as well. Arguably, in a worse way.
Lilith went from a mortal to a demon. But Lucifer went from an angel, the highest rank of angels in Heaven, to Fallen. The first of his kind in existence, someone who was neither mortal, angel, nor demon. Someone who fell outside the designated rankings, and someone who would plant the seeds for those black and white ranks, to separate into new shades.
But before that, their new ranks within the world needed to be established. And in order for that to happen, the current rankings within their new realm needed to be made aware of the change within their existence.
*****
Burning. Everything was burning. His skin was burning. His muscles were burning. Everything was burning… Why was everything burning?! He couldn’t hear anything but the crackling of flames and wind rushing past him. It hurt… There was iron in his mouth, a disgusting metallic taste as warmth dripped from his mouth, over his lip and past his closed eyes.
His eyes? Yes… yes, his eyes. He was falling towards the ground, the world around him upside down. But… Lilith… where was she? His arms tensed, wrapping tighter around something. Lilith? Was this… Yes, yes this was Lilith. When had she gotten there? Had… had she been there the entire time? She was… Yes. She was safe. Safe a wrapped in his wings… His burning wings… His bleeding wings…
“…L-Lili-” his voice cracked, his vision disappearing as a sickening crack rung out through the air, warmth rapidly spreading over his scalp, and he couldn’t remember what he wanted to say. He couldn’t remember… anything…
*****
The story of Lucifer and Lilith’s fall was public, anyone could read the story. Not many demons did, but nothing would’ve stopped them from figuring it out. Charlie had read the entire story, but very few others could say they had. And even then, Charlie didn’t read the story to remember the history, she read the story because she enjoyed reading about her father’s dreams, about how her mother inspired Hell.
When Lucifer fell, he rose to his position as King of Hell, and Lilith became the Queen Consort. Technically. Despite only being the Queen Consort, Lilith managed to garner more power over Hell than even Lucifer did. …Except, that wasn’t quite right, and her power wasn’t quite over demons.
When Lucifer fell the skies of Hell lit up like they never had before. It was common knowledge amongst Hell that the skies would always remain ‘hellish’ colours (whatever that meant). The Pride Ring’s sky consistently bled red and blacks, blending in a clash against Heaven’s colours to force a barrier between them. The lightest of the Ring’s skies were Gluttony and Sloth, yellows and bright oranges infesting Beelzebub’s sky, and light purple’s invading Belphegor’s sky.
On the surface, Lust possessed the darkest sky, dark purples and blues providing perfect cover for the neon signs of the ‘red light district’ of Hell, and Greed’s sky was believed to be a set of greys, but the green smoke billowing up from factories and creating a thick fog of green hid it.
There was no ‘hierarchy’ to the rings, the way they were positioned held no differences to their status. But despite Sloth having one of the brightest rings, the city filled with sleep and dreariness tended to remain the darkest as a matter of course, heavy clouds creating dull atmosphere’s, shaded windows hiding its occupants from the light. If the light from earth or Heaven were to ever breach Hell, it would never reach Sloth’s level.
And yet, the day Lucifer fell the skies of Hell in its entirety lit up as if Heaven had indeed invaded. Blues and yellows and shades of white streaked across the rings, and although six of the seven rings remained… mostly intact, the formerly unnamed Pride Ring might as well have been banished from existence.
No one dared truly live in the top ring, it was too close to Heaven to be ‘safe’, therefor upon the former Seraphim’s arrival, very little permanent damage occurred. The Sins hadn’t been particularly happy though. Each Sin occupied their ring, and throughout each ring members of the Ars Goetia families loitered as well. The Ars Goetia power transferred across rings, but the Sins always had the final say, and the Sin’s had agreed to leave the top ring alone.
No one could own it without pissing off the others, and frankly? It really wasn’t that worth it, no one dared lurk so close to the Heaven’s so it would simply be a waste of space. Still, upon feeling the way each ring shook, seeing how the skies lit up, it became painfully obvious to each Sin that something bad had just happened. And if the ball of flames and gold leaving streaks through the skies meant anything, Heaven had finally lost their patience.
*****
Beelzebub’s bug wings fluttered behind her as she bounced over the rubble littering the top ring. She looked around, her nose twitching at the smell of burning. Hell always smelt burnt, but after living for a while you stopped noticing it, it was just your everyday environment. This smell? It was instantly noticeable. Her ears flicked forward as she heard something raspy, wheezing even. She glanced sideways as she heard gentle swishing approaching from behind, the dust and soot brushing away.
Asmodeus was walking towards her, his long legs allowing him to step over the rubble with ease. His clawed hands rested on his hips, his white, black and red tail feathers swaying behind him. He wasn’t smiling for once, his glowing green eyes narrowed, and his mouth set in a line.
“I don’t suppose you’ve attempted to take this ring?” he asked lightly, sneering slightly as he jutted his chin up. Gluttony trying to take another ring for itself would make sense, but… somehow Asmodeus doubted it would’ve caused this much damage. The goal when trying to take rings wasn’t to destroy everything. It was to add another domain to your power. Frankly, the ideal situation would’ve been a Sin trying to overtake the infamous top ring, but… an uneasy feeling lurked in his chest.
“Uh, as if,” Beelzebub rolled her yellow and pink eyes. “Greed’s more likely to have tried this,” she waved off Asmodeus, her colourful lava like tail bubbling behind her as she followed her nose towards the burning smell’s source. She climbed over a protrusion in the ground, ignoring the fire licking at her fur. Her eyes widened and her ears fell back, her lava stomach almost visibly churning. “Woah…”
Asmodeus joined her, his eyes widening slightly. “…Well, looks like Heaven’s finally acting.”
Until Adam and the exorcists made their debut, it was believed that Angels could only have white wings. Adam was an exception in Heaven, but he was known only to the heavens, specifically, only to the Elders and Seraphims. Lucifer, however, was the first being in existence to have his wings change, and Beelzebub and Asmodeus were the first to watch as the tips of his white wings bled gold until they dried and revealed red.
A strange development, all things considered.
*****
Upon the new… residents of Hell’s arrival, the plans were laid to expand on exactly what ‘demon’ meant. As human’s expanded their reign throughout earth and as Heaven anxiously watched to see what would happen now, Lilith and Lucifer found themselves forced to integrate with the Sins and Ars Goetia. Lilith integrated better than Lucifer did.
Lilith found a place amongst the ranks so easily; she became the centre of Hell’s fascination. She encouraged them to stand up, fight for what they believed in, to stop pretending Heaven had any control over them. Hell loved her. The Sins? …They had mixed feelings. The Ars Goetia recognised that Lucifer would without a doubt end up amongst their ranks, and they recognised that Lilith would stay by his side, so despite their… personal opinions, they tolerated Lilith for the most part.
They came to like her more after the arrival of a certain someone.
No one could classify was Lilith was. When she arrived in Hell, she was alive, she was neither Fallen, and neither Demon, but it was obvious to everyone that something about her changed. You know, if the horns growing out of her skull didn’t show that. But even as Lilith became a ‘demon’, they weren’t quite sure what she was.
And then, in the middle of the soon-to-be-named Pride Ring, a man with grey fur covering his body, dog ears poking out of his head, blood red eyes, and something dark swirling around him appeared. A human had appeared in Hell. Except… was he human? No, humans didn’t possess such animal attributes. This human had appeared in Hell out of nowhere. No chaos, no lit-up skies, no shaking, he just appeared.
Cain had just arrived in Hell, the first murderer in existence.
Lucifer had named the new class. After realising the link between Cain and Lilith, the sins both committed between murdering one’s brother and allowing evil free reign of earth sent two humans down to Hell. It only made sense to call them one thing.
Sinners.
Eventually, upon Adam’s demise and his status shooting up to… whatever he was called, human souls who became angels became Winners. Technically, that’s the only change within ranks that occurred thanks to their fall. Actually, the other change was… never expanded on. To be completely honest, Lucifer wasn’t sure if anyone other than himself was even aware of the other change.
The hierarchies of Hell and Heaven became structured once Sinners and Winners were implemented. For starters, Hellborne as a whole ended up at the bottom of the list. They’d always been there, but amongst three categories it wasn’t exactly a massive disadvantage. Sinners were initially believed to be beneath Hellborne, they couldn’t leave the Pride Ring and were quickly confined to Pentagon City. But Sinners were apparently, immortal. They couldn’t die from anything within Hell, and that fact alone stuck them above Hellborne. Their powers led to another advantage for them.
Amongst the Sinners ranks appeared, and Overlords rose above the average Sinner. They came next in the Hierarchy. Everything above remained the same, Ars Goetia above Hellborne (and Sinners as a whole), and the Seven Deadly Sins above the Ars Goetia families. That being said, two new ranks appeared.
Lilith’s rank, and Lucifer’s rank.
Lilith’s voice flooded Hell, and if anyone was known between rings, it was her, yet Lucifer, power-wise, would forever remain at the top of the food chain. As it turned out, he was considered to be… more of an Urban Legend than anything else. He was perfectly fine with that.
Heaven ended up with a similar system, albeit with their own people and angels and holy souls. At the end of the day, technically Lucifer ruled Hell, and God ruled the Heavens. That being said, when it came down to everything, Lilith had Hell wrapped around her finger, and Sera was just rising to the right spot to… govern Heaven. The leaders in name were not leading in practice.
God kind of… disappeared. They certainly remained present, but no one could figure out where they’d disappeared to. That wasn’t surprising, God was God for a reason. If they wanted to disappear, they would.
Lucifer ended up… disappearing in a different way. He hated Hell, he hated the Sinner’s he inadvertently created, the misery he inadvertently brought to earth. He loved Lilith, and he supported her, but he hated Hell. He avoided the Sins he’d become a part of, he avoided the Ars Goetia princes that ruled beneath him, and he avoided Hell in its entirety. Lucifer could never return to Heaven. He was banned, exiled, fallen.
But… he could go to earth. And he did.
Lucifer was Hell’s King on paper, but he wasn’t ‘in charge’ the way God was in charge of Heaven. He had control, sure, but it wasn’t something he really cared about. …Until earth, that is.
Lucifer ventured to earth under a disguise, and just… observed. He watched what he’d caused, what he’d screwed up, and… he was remarkably surprised. Everything Heaven had said while he was thrown out, about ruining earth, ruining mortality, it was wrong. Yes, there were horrible people, and a fair few of the mortals that died during Noah’s Ark ended up in Hell. But a fair few of them ended up in Heaven too.
Lucifer was sure people who had died prior had… ended up somewhere special, but he’d never noticed until Noah’s Ark, until the world’s first mass genocide.
*****
A frown marred Lucifer’s face as he hovered above the flooded land, debris and carcasses running into each other, bobbing up and down through the water. Something in his heart ached, a horrible whisper in the back of his head, reminding him of his part in this. People, humans had become so corrupted that God had been forced to restart, to eliminate almost all of them. All because of him…
Even the innocent, the completely innocent were gone, animals that had just been living their lives. Innocent humans, children, mothers, fathers, men and women were gone. Sure, not everyone was a saint, enough were corrupted by evil to justify mass genocide (apparently), but… not everyone was. God had killed everyone except for Noah because of Lucifer.
His wings beat slowly behind him, feeling barely strong enough to keep him up, away from the water filled with the dead. His eyes closed, something stinging as he grit his teeth, fists clenching and rage slowly dripping through his veins. His eyes cracked open as he heard a small quack, glancing down. His red eyes slowly cracked open, his vision narrow and blurry as the noise was slowly processed.
Lucifer’s eyes opened as he blinked, his rage slowly fading. Huh. Maybe not everything had died… His wing’s changed their motions, slowly lowering him to hover just above the water, his legs bending at the knee, so he could kneel on air.
Beady little black eyes blinked up at him, a tiny green head tilting.
‘Quack’.
Small, grey wings reared up and flapped, small splatters of water brushing across Lucifer’s knees. Even tinier, pale-yellow heads popped out behind its body, small, soft chirps slowly drifting through the air. A tiny smile crossed Lucifer’s face as he rested his hands on his thighs, just… watching as the tiny ducklings wiggled their little tails, their little feet kicking wildly under the water. The mama duck quacked again, wiggling her tail and dipping her head beneath the water, almost launching one of the ducklings out of the water and into his lap.
Lucifer let out a short, startled laugh as his hands instinctively cradled the small, slightly disoriented duckling. Something warm filled his heart, something he hadn’t felt since his time in Heaven, excitedly chirping about his own ideas. He was sure he’d been just as vocal as these ducklings had been, unable to stay quiet as they flapped around, chirping their little heads off.
Maybe that’s what did it, finally feeling so… calm after so long. Guilty, but… not filled with guilt. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t feel so… evil. He felt like Lucifer again, not the King of Hell. He felt like he was the Lightbringer again, dreaming and giving ideas and wanting to bring nothing but good into mortals’ lives.
But once that warmth flooded his chest, he felt a… pull. Something in his chest almost trying to steer him somewhere, somewhere not on earth, nor in Hell or even in Heaven. Somewhere completely different, separate.
Lucifer couldn’t explain why, he couldn’t even quite remember what happened, but one minute he was hovering above the water, ducklings surrounding him and pecking at his gently beating wings, and the next he, and the ducklings and mama duck, were… somewhere else. Lucifer was no longer hovering above the water, he was kneeling in shallow water, warmth and… safety around him.
And people. A lot of people. People chatting and laughing, crying and comforting each other, glaring and arguing with each other. Just… people. Neither good nor evil, almost completely balanced, a realm filled with the dead that had a place in neither Heaven nor Hell.
Limbo.
*****
It was his own little realm, something he completely controlled. And despite how silly and childish it might seem; Lucifer knew he only found it because of those ducklings. He’d kept them, of course, kept track of where they were to visit them on earth, and when they left earth’s plain of existence, he ushered them to somewhere safe.
Because of those tiny little animals, he found a world of his own. A world where he could determine where each soul went, where he could ask each soul where they wanted to go. They could choose between Heaven and Hell, between the Heavenborn and Hellborne. Those decisions weren’t… great. Hellborne and Heavenborn were both the lowest tiers in their hierarchies, and yet… They weren’t sent there because they sinned, because they let evil corrupt them. Lucifer didn’t have any bad opinions about Heavenborn, they’d been there the entire time, their only disadvantage was needing to work.
Apparently, that disadvantage was enough for most souls to choose Hellborne, assuming they wanted to leave their ‘limbo’. Lucifer wouldn’t force them to leave. If they wanted to stay, they were free to, and if they changed their mind, he’d happily accommodate them. Ruling over this ‘limbo’ seemed… unintentional. Being able to send souls to have ‘extra lives’ as Hellborne or Heavenborn before they reincarnate (if they chose to) was… not something he would’ve expected Heaven to allow.
He didn’t care though. They cast him out, and he’d ended up with this place as his, Heaven could try and take it from him. Whether his souls chose reincarnation, Hellborne or Heavenborn, or staying in ‘limbo’, he didn’t care. Upon realising that Hellborne weren’t evil, upon remembering that they’d simply been born in Hell, his attitude towards them changed. Lucifer took care of them, integrated himself into the Seven Deadly Sins, and he stepped into his role as King.
Lilith’s target demographic at that point had changed to Sinners. They had the power, they concerned Heaven, they were important. Lucifer was fine with that, as long as his Hellborne weren’t punished.
And then the exorcists arrived. Lucifer recognised some of the souls, angry women that had been in ‘limbo’. That had been surprising to begin with, more so because they didn’t recognise him. He wasn’t sure why they were all women, and upon looking into it further, the exorcists didn’t just consist of women. They were simply the ones that wanted to kill Sinners, the men (and others) seemed much more focused on… assisting the women. Lucifer couldn’t explain anything about them, he hadn’t been involved at all.
But he did know almost all of them had been in ‘limbo’, the more violent souls that had wished to cause violence and didn’t want to go to Heaven or Hell. Lucifer had been fine to let them run through the Sinners, it wasn’t until the first Hellborne got hurt that he intervened, that he tore through his former souls until Sera was forced to send someone down, Adam.
They came to an agreement, Adam’s exorcists (daughters? Sisters? Nieces? Family?) were free to slaughter Sinners one day a year, as long as Hellborne were left alone. Frankly, despite Adam’s (justified) dislike of Lucifer, he was agreeable. He was reasonable, had reasonings, and Lucifer could respect him. They shared a link because of the exorcists, souls taken from ‘limbo’ from an innate desire for violence without Lucifer’s control, and Adam utilising them to get rid of the evil in Hell. The evil Lilith tried to inspire to rise up.
Lucifer understood the Exterminations, even if no one else did. He didn’t have to explain himself, and he didn’t, all anyone knew was that Lucifer had bargained and gotten Hellborne immunity.
That was good enough for him.
Lucifer would’ve gladly watched Sinner’s die, be destroyed and forgotten. Maybe it was cruel, he’d helped create them and he wanted them gone, but ‘limbo’ was reasonable, it wasn’t a 50/50 split of good and evil that gathered souls, it was just… any sort of balance. Balance Hell and Heaven didn’t have.
He didn’t deny that he didn’t believe in Charlie’s dream, he didn’t believe anyone who had landed in Hell would want to change. It didn’t make sense that they would be rewarded for their crimes. But… he didn’t actively stop her. He didn’t want to hurt her, to make him hate her, he just… wanted to keep her safe. So, he did, even if she didn’t realise.
He’d always keep his daughter safe, even if he didn’t agree with her. It was the least he could do, the bare minimum to make up for his mistakes.
To apologise for his part in humanity’s inevitable end.