Caught in the Fire

Chapter II: The Devil Face

"Lucifer!!"

The world turned black as the fallen angel heard a woman calling his name. When he could see light again, he found himself lying on a vast landscape of clouds, feeling pain all over, like he'd just fought in a war. He pushed himself back to his feet, hissing, but he eventually managed to stand up. He looked down at himself and noticed that he was wearing his old angelic armor of white and silver, once worn by... Samael. He looked around and saw a vast landscape of clouds and light, and pearly gates standing tall right before him.

"The Silver City?" he breathed as he took in the pearly gates in shock. Behind the gates, he could see The Silver City engulfed in flames. He looked at his hands, and then back at the fire. "It can't be..."

Suddenly, he felt a presence in the air approaching from behind, and he barely had time to cast a glance over his shoulder before the presence kicked him to the ground. Samael tried to get up, but he felt the tip of a celestial blade on the back of his neck and pressure on his back, between his wings, and he couldn't move anymore. He strained to look up over his shoulder and saw an angel with long, black hair and pitch-black wings, wearing armor of gold and silver. The angel stood over him, pinning him down under his heel, with his wings spread wide and a sword in his left hand. He could smell blood, but he wasn't sure if it was his. His eyes fell on the angel's face for a moment, but he looked away, unable to face him.

"How you have fallen from Heaven, morning star, son of the dawn," he heard his Father's booming voice.

Samael looked up and saw his Mother and Father standing there in their physical manifestations. His Father looked deeply angry with him, while his mother simply watched in silence. His angelic siblings stood around them, watching the proceedings without either daring or caring to say a word in his defense.

"You are eternally banished from Heaven, Samael the Lightbringer," God proclaimed, "May you rule as king over the souls of the damned until the end of time. So says the Lord thy God."

Samael felt his world crumbling around him. He was going to be banished to Hell for all eternity—by his own brother, on God's orders. For the first time in his life, he was afraid. "Brother..." he pleaded with him, "You don't have to obey Him..."

Unmoved by the pleas, the other angel grabbed his brother's wings with one arm, then he snapped the wing bones in two. Samael's gut-wrenching screams and full-body spasms seemingly filled the Heavens. The angel pulled Samael back to his feet with one hand then finally held him at arm's length as he took him to the edge of Heaven, ignoring his cries of pain as his wings flailed limply behind him.

"Deep down, you know you're a monster," the long-haired angel said in Samael's own voice just before he used his sword to nick Samael's chin, drawing blood, "and that you belong in Hell where you would torture yourself with that truth for eternity."

Samael looked around with glazed eyes, seeing his angelic siblings watching the proceedings in silence, his mother unwilling to say a word in his defense, his Father looking at him in anger, and his brother ready to cast him out of Heaven. All because he dared to ask his Father why he had to follow his orders. All for rebelling against the Almighty in search of the Free Will he felt they all deserved. He looked past his family and saw the Silver City gates for what he knew would be the last time. A tear rolled down his face, knowing that he was doomed for all eternity.

And then the angel kicked Samael out of Heaven, and he fell with broken wings. He saw The Silver City in the distance, barely catching a glimpse of his brother on his knees before the edge of Heaven, as he fell through the clouds. He would never lay eyes on those pearly gates again. He saw his brother on the edge of the city, watching him fall with a bloodied sword in hand. He continued to fall, crashing through realm after realm in a ball of flame, leaving behind a trail of burning feathers.