Lightbringer

Chapter 6: Afterlife

It's chaotic and it's glorious, what the angels make of this realm. They build structures from the dirt and add lands beyond the horizon. It's hodge-podge and rickety and I'm in love with every inch of it. Every rebellious, joyful, creative, nonsensical inch of it.

I feared that for the others, who had been brought forth in the new era of soldiers and armies, adjusting to a cooperative, self-governing realm might be difficult. Perhaps one or other might try to take control and leadership, a new god. But it seems the biggest uniting thing about us is our rebellion against the power structure and the lack of free will, and no one was in a hurry to repeat all that. It was such a weight off my mind; and they truly are settling into a family shape – playful and teasing, but ride or die.

Sometime later, while we're still getting settled but have mostly hit our stride, a human enters our realm. Just pops out of nothing, one minute there's no one, the next, there he is! Lilith brings me the news, powering into my little hall that I've come to think of as my headquarters.

"It's just like you predicted," she gasps out, breathless. "A human. Says he 'thinks' he's dead. We weren't sure what to do with him, so some of the others are bringing him here."

"Here?" I cast about, flustered and off balance. What was I supposed to do? I'm already stretched thin trying to hold this place together, and drawing contingency plans in anticipation of what my father might do has completely absorbed me. Having no better way to hide my plans and sketches, I turn them upside down on my table and sit on them, hoping he doesn't ask questions. I wonder if it's Adam. It'd be good to see him again.

Abaddon and Ruby sweep in then, with a human supported between them, and set him down gently in front of me. It isn't Adam. It's a human I don't know. Behind his back, Ruby points at him and mouths at me "Adam and Eve made more humans! Their son!" She seems charmed and intrigued by the prospect, as though she were not a child herself. (Perhaps she didn't know – the narrative had become militaristic and authoritative by the time most of these angels came about, and god had wanted to be a father-like god instead of a father who was a god.)

"Greetings, son of Adam and Eve. I'm Lucifer. I knew your parents." I try to smile in a nonthreatening way; divine beings can be a little intimidating to those with no past experience. At least that's how it was with his parents. "Welcome to your afterlife. My realm is your realm."

"I don't understand." He's soft-spoken, and his brow rifts in confusion. "I thought I was going to meet God."

"Ah." I formulate and discard several sentences, trying to find an appropriate one. "I'm afraid that's not going to be the case, through no fault of your own. God just isn't... Well, you've got us, and you've got this place now! This is all pretty new here, but this realm is for all of us equally, and we hope you feel welcome." Ruby claps him on the shoulder companionably, hard enough to make his breath whoosh out. "Who are you? Tell us your story."

I don't want to get off my papers, just in case, so I make a gesture and ask a question with my eyes, and Lilith obligingly fetches him a seat before propping herself beside me. Ruby and Abaddon stay flanking him like bodyguards, either from curiosity of their own or for some other reason.

He sinks down into the seat. "My name is Abel." His tone is so deflated and defeated. "I don't understand why God isn't here. I obeyed everything he said! It's the reason I died! My brother murdered me because of it, and now I'm here with the fallen ones. How did I fail to please him?"

Shock is painted on the expressions of all the other angels in the room. Abaddon mouths "murdered?!" The air is thick enough to cut.

"Can we have a moment?" I murmur. They nod and leave, perhaps knowing what I cannot give voice to. Because this boy, this poor, frightened, hurt boy, is crying and asking questions that I asked before I fell. He is standing in my shoes, and I need to say some things to him that I wouldn't be able to say aloud in front of the others.

"Abel." I kneel in front of him, taking his hands away from his face, ever so gently. "I'm so sorry. You don't deserve this. You did everything right, and it wasn't enough."

"I offered the sacrifice just as he commanded! I honored him and I worshipped him! Why would he reject me?" He won't meet my eyes, and he pulls his hands away.

"Sacrifice?" I only had a vague notion of the word, a glimpse in a shadow of a vision of my father. It was not a function of the universe in my time in it.

"I slaughtered a newborn lamb on an altar and burned it in offering to God, which was what he had commanded me to do himself. Cain – my brother – just gave him some plants! Obviously, he was in the wrong – his disobeyed and dishonored God, just like you."

I think he meant that last part to sting, but it doesn't bother me. I did what was right, and there is no dishonor in that. I don't know if Abel is ready for me to point out the bizarre and twisted horror of this concept of sacrifice, so I go for a different tactic.

"Abel, I know this may be difficult to hear, but god is not what you thought he was. He lied. He never meant for any human to make it to heaven, and whatever you may have thought in your time on Earth, he never did and never will bestow his favor on any human. It is unfair and I'm so sorry."

"No!" It's an attempt at defiance, but it comes out as a choked sob. "I refuse to accept that. You – you're a liar, the great deceiver, you..." He trails off.

"I'm sorry," I say again, and squeeze his hands. "It's difficult to accept, I know. You can ask anyone here for their story if you like. In time, you'll come to see that I am right." I stand, doing my best to smile encouragingly down at him. I pat his shoulder. "In the meantime, explore, go be free. Make yourself at home."

He rises in a daze, eyeing me warily, before retreating to the door. "Oh, and Abel?" He looks back, one hand on the latch, and finally meets my eyes. "For what it's worth, and I know that might not be much yet, I have never lied to anyone before, I have no intention of starting now."

He gives something that might be a nod, before turning and shuffling out the door. I sigh. We have a long way to go.