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“A Cherub once,” the Tyrant said, “But down here, no longer.”
I grabbed the Tyrant’s shoulder. “Enough,” I hissed, “Let him speak. Please, Micah. Go on.”
Micah stared at the Tyrant for a long moment, then lowered his eyes. “I was forbidden from speaking about this,” he said. “Even if I had wanted to, I would never have been able to say the words. Not before.”
“And now?” Helena asked.
“The compulsion to remain quiet on the subject is… gone.”
“Because She is also gone.”
Micah nodded, then sighed. “Lucifer is not a demon…” he paused. “I know where he is, and it’s not Hell.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“Let me first explain what happened to him,” another pause. “I’ve told you before, Lucifer’s punishment for hurting God was everlasting, but it wasn’t to be broken and thrown into the pit. He was the first of her angels, and the first to break Her heart. The shock that anyone even could was enough to inspire in God a kind of vengefulness no one had ever seen before.”
“If Lucifer was the first,” the Tyrant said, “Who else was there to witness God’s vengefulness?”
“I was,” Micah said. “So were all the other Cherubs. He was the first angel, but we were the first of Her creations. Dutiful and loyal to a fault. We helped Her create you; createhim.”
“I can’t… I can’t evenimaginethe timeframe you’re talking about, here,” I said.
“Try not to, it won’t make sense. Time has no meaning on Her plane.” He looked up at the ceiling, as if he were remembering something fondly. “Lucifer was perfect. She put so much of Herself into him, gave him so much of Her own power. She needed him, because without him, She couldn’t enact Her vision; she couldn’t build Heaven Herself. So, She made him strong where we were weak, but also gave him the ability to think for himself. If he was to construct Heaven, he needed to have initiative, to be free of mind.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Lucifer did exactly what he was supposed to do. He built Heaven, designed its Sacred Machinery, tinkered with its inner workings until it was fit for purpose… only it wasn’t until the first humans arrived that he understood what that purpose was. Remember, Lucifer—like all of you—was bound by Her commandments. He was told to never interfere with human lives, but to love them above all else. Lucifer loved humanity, he reveled when they entered Heaven because he could finally be with them, those humans who loved his God so much… but then they were gone.”
“They moved on…” Helena put in.
“No, that’s only what the angels had been told. That Heaven was some sort of temporary stop for human souls before they moved on to become one with the cosmos. However, the truth is somewhat more upsetting. While humans are in Heaven, their energy helps to keep its Sacred Machinery running, but even soul energy has its limits.”
“Wait, wait,” I said, “Limits? What are you talking about?”
“Please, I’ll explain as much as I know. As I understand it, the energy within a human’s soul is what keeps Heaven’s Sacred Machinery running, but eventually, that resource is expended. I remember the day the first human soul ‘ran out’. Lucifer’s pain shook Heaven to its core. There were clouds, thunder, lightning, similar to what we all experienced moments before the Burn. He was angry, he didn’t understand what had happened, why it had to happen, or why he had been kept in the dark.”
I could see Helena’s face turn green, my stomach was also starting to churn uncomfortably at this revelation.
“Are you trying to tell us that human souls fuel Heaven?” asked Helena.
“Yes, they fuel Heaven, and in turn the creation of angels and cherubs. They keep the Machinery working. When Lucifer discovered the truth, he raged and rebelled.” said Micah. “His outrage was contagious, too. There were many other angels who agreed with him. They hadn’t been told this would happen. God refused to answer their cries, refused Lucifer’s requests for an audience. So, he took matters into his own hands… he planned to destroy the Sacred Machinery he had built. When God learned of his plans, She was furious, and finally intervened.”
“But he had every right to be upset!” I said, feeling the sudden urge to defend his actions.
Micah nodded. “I agree. But none of us can pretend to know God’s plan. I can only imagine and hope that She had Her reasons for it all, but if She did we were never told what they were.”
“Perhaps it had something to do with all the dead souls stuck on Earth,” said Helena.
I had almost forgotten. It seemed so long ago the Tyrant had taken me out on that excursion to find Ariuk and his lost convoy. On that trip we had come across a human settlement, a town.There, I had seen a woman rushing through the street as if she was running away from something she couldn’t quite see.
Something I couldn’t see, either.
“The Earth is overrun with the souls of the dead,” said the Tyrant.
“Without Heaven to take them in, where else would they go?” said Helena.
“That seems plausible,” Micah said, “But I don’t know the truth of Heaven’s ultimate purpose. No one does. The Morningstar had enough free will and power to fight for what he believed was right, and in doing so committed the ultimate betrayal. Her first angel acted against Her. For that, he was punished.”
