EMPYREAN [ re-writing ]

PART 1: THE BEGINNING

       The frigid, murky water allowed no light to pierce through. His world was bleak and wet. The shackles and chains that held him down to the ground swayed with the rhythm of the volatile waves. Somewhere, in the distance, deep in the belly of the Lost Sea, Lucifer heard the cry of a colossal sea creature, was it the cry of agony or the cry of hunger? For the Lost Sea offered no prey to be hunted, only sinners that were prisoned and chained to their watery confinement.

The sound was getting closer. Lucifer could feel the vibration in the current. The black sea churned as if it was angry that its inhabitants had the audacity to be swimming around in its body. In the darkness, the water swirled past his face, he could make out an outline, a gigantic monster was writhing above him. The thing cried again.

By Neptune's beard! If that oversized fish decides to lament its fate for being trapped in the Lost Sea, it should be doing it somewhere else! Lucifer thought inwardly, almost rolling his deep blue eyes. The aquatic monster hovered idly in his way, blocking his sight.

Not that there was any view for Lucifer to feast his eyes on in this sea—it was too bloody dark to see one's own nose—but Lucifer wished to also lament his trapped fate in privacy!

This was his home—if you wish to view it in the positive light—Lucifer had been trapped and chained here for hundreds of thousands of years. The last time he'd ever breathed an air of freedom, a certain significant figure in Christianity was still alive, and learning how to walk on water and turn drinks into wine!

Lucifer gritted his teeth. He yanked his chains in frustration and abruptly the seabed reciprocated by pulling back the imperial chain ten times the force and almost dislodged Lucifer's wrist. He roared in blazing anger and caught the attention of the aforementioned monster near him.

Instinctively, the building-sized monster lunged towards Lucifer, its maw wide open, an opening to death and ready to swallow everything that dare to come closer to its rows of jagged teeth. He saw it, felt it that the distance between him and the monster shrink in a second, and lashed out. A burst of blinding light erupted in a form of a cannonball, shooting outward from his palm and went straight to the monster's jaw. It exploded like a bloodied ink, staining the Lost Sea, and coloured Lucifer's world red.

The grisly scene, the tide of crimson blood, effectively reminded Lucifer of something. A painful memory. He'd got lots of blood in his hands and he'd never cared about it. But, when it came to her blood...he felt his gut spasmed excruciatingly. Her blood was in his hands, and it drove him to madness. He'd left a trail of red devastation in his deranged spree. The demon inside him craved solace for her death.

For Celestine's death.

Thus, it brought him here. The Heaven caught up to him and imprisoned him under the Lost Sea. Years passed and he was unchanged in his sorrow for his love. Lucifer stared out blankly into the red water, not breathing—never had to—thinking that it was a terrible fight. Giant fish had never stood a chance against him, and it didn't make good eating. Until he saw a soft light shatter the umber curtain that engulfed his prison.

A figure of a willowy woman, bathed in incandescent light, appeared. Lucifer watched the glowing figure in sinking feeling. It was her.

"Oh, beautiful Celestine..." Lucifer murmured ruefully. "You were as lovely as the day I first met you. So beautiful, both in my dreams and memories. Have you come to torment me of my sin to you?" He gazed at her splendid light, her translucent body untouched by the murder scar, as she approached him with love in her expression.

"Lucifer..." It was only a whisper, but his body was wracked with heavy sobs. "Come..."

He looked at her.

"Come...follow me..."

***

     Somewhere along the coast of the Lost Sea, a siren, a patrolling angel, and a novice walked into a cove, they stood together in a group. It started to sound like a beginning of a bad joke. The senior angel, who stood taller than the rest of the two, glared disapprovingly at the particular nymph.

"We don't have time for this!"

"Aw, come on, big guy, only for a moment. I've been practicing for days. Won't hurt ya to listen to me singing?" The siren smiled seductively, but to no avail, a rock could have reacted much better than the angels.

"Harrumph! We've a duty to do, miss. Both me and my junior need to patrol our perimeter."

"This won't take long, I promise ya fellas. Both me and me friends have bet whether if I can allure ya two with my singing."

The novice paled at the beautiful siren's words. "So you want to lure us to our death, in order to win a bet against your coven?"

She smiled brightly, showcasing her razor-sharp teeth. "Ya a bright fella, aren't ya? And a handsome one too!"

"I'm sorry miss, but we're not in a habit of gambling nor the type of endorsing it. Please excuse us." The senior grumbled, eyeing the half mermaid - half bird nymph, pondering if he should resort to physical removal of this siren.

"Aye aye, what's the rush, big fellas? Ain't nobody here except us three. This is the Lost Sea, for heaven's sake! No one can escape or able to escape, it's impenetrable from both outside and inside! Now, to me sing—"

A blinding white light pierced through the darkness above the Lost Sea, far in the distance. A moment later, the rumbling of an explosion quaked the ground on which the three figures were standing. Jolting out of his daze and shock, the senior angel immediately flew to the source of the incident, followed by his novice and a nosy siren.

"Stand back, miss! This will be dangerous!"

"Ain't no way for me missing out on this. What in the Lord's name is happening?!" She stared in bewilderment, the scene lay out before the trio was something impossible.

Something that had never happened in the Lost Sea. The sea was drained out, empty of the black water. It evaporated into the cold air and now all that was left was a vast, muddy land. The contents of the Lost Sea were finally divulged in a grand revelation. A sea void of water and there was one inhabitant missing from it. There were broken chains and shackles on the ground.

The fallen angel was missing.

"Aye, now fellas...it seems now y'all will have a valid excuse to hear me singing now, aye?"

Welcome to the Part One of the book! It will be narrated in third POV following Lucifer!

ENJOY!