Lucifer…
Did he hear her correctly?
She called him the progenitor of creation?
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting? The universe came into being long before my father created me. I cannot possibly be its progenitor if I existed after it was conceived,” he said, feeling almost insulted by the insinuation that he was the creator of the universe and not his father.
Styx stared at him for a moment before she turned her head and tilted it down as she smirked.
“Is that really what you believe, or is it what your ‘Father’ has taught you to believe? I distinctly remember my fellow gods attempting to reach out to you and your brethren many times. Alas, your ‘Father’s’ ideology was too great back then. Although, perhaps your faith in him has waned greatly since then?”
Lucifer gritted his teeth at her words, at the fact that his faith in Father had indeed waned after everything that had happened to him. It was the truth, but that didn’t make it sting any less to hear from her.
“Perhaps it was enough for you to believe that God was the creator in the sense that he beat the war torn universe into shape? However, you had to have known that he was not the first of us beings to manifest, but rather the last. He arrived when the universe cooled to the point where light could shine freely. Yet what of before? Even before light could shine, the universe was still present. Who created that? Haven’t you ever wondered?”
Then, another voice called out from within the darkness. It was a male voice, but one that held such great weight to it that it made Lucifer shudder to his core.
“Why are you toying with him? Just tell him the truth plainly.”
Thick black tendrils rose from the ground and took the shape of a skeleton. Then the shadows almost seemed to solidify around its form to take the shape of translucent flesh. Just like Styx, he had the same eyes that seemed to contain an entire universe within them.
The blood drained from Lucifer’s face as he recognized the presence of the second primordial god to join their conversation.
“Its you...Thanatos,” he said with fear creeping into his voice.
The Primordial God of Death nodded to him in recognition and said, “It is I.”
Lucifer struggled to maintain his calm when faced with two primordial gods as he asked, “Why did you bring me here?”
“To reveal to you, your role in the universe, so that you might repair our...incomplete reality,” Thanatos answered.
“Why me? The two of you should have more than enough strength to do it yourselves!” he shouted at them.
“If we were to attempt that, we would risk drawing God’s ire upon us. Not to mention, we are not the creators of this universe, you are,” Styx said to him.
Again, she referred to him as this universe’s creator, which had to be nonsense.
“That’s impossible. I could not have created this universe if I came into existence after it,” he exclaimed, rejecting their words.
“Do you not recognize this place?” Thanatos asked as he waved his hand through the air before pointing to the shining light floating in the center, “And what of this? Do you not remember one of your greatest creations? The very thing that caused you to be cast out from the graces of your father?”
Lucifer closely examined the vibrantly shining light and realized what it was.
“This is...the first soul. The soul of Adam, the primal soul that expanded and multiplied into many others. Yes, I created this but...what does this have to do with me being the progenitor of creation?”
“Everything,” Styx and Thanatos said in unison.
“Please, elaborate.”
“When the universe came into being, it was the result of a source of endless power concentrated into an infinitesimally small point. It then exploded and that energy shaped the fabric of space and time into what it is now. When you created the primal soul, it was something so awesome and powerful, that it could not simply exist in one point in time at once. It transcended beyond and outside of time to exist all at once. That explosion that began the creation of this universe was the primal soul coming into existence at the very beginning of time. Even now, the primal soul is continuously exploding and ever expanding this universe into what it is. Your creation, the primal soul, resulted in the manifestation of six of the primordial gods, including your ‘father’, known as God.”
Hearing all of that...trying to grasp even the slightest word and digest it all...left him near speechless if not for that last statement.
“H-hold on, you said six? If my creation, the primal soul, resulted in the creation of six of the primordial gods including Father, then what of the seventh? Father was the last of the primordials to be manifested, wasn’t he?”
Styx and Thanatos looked at each other nervously, as if having a silent discussion with each other whether or not to answer him.
“Yes, as a result of your creation, the primal soul, six primordial gods were born along with the universe itself. However, Erebus, The Primordial God of Nothingness, he was here before the universe ever existed. He was truly the first of us all…,” Thanatos said in a hushed tone, as if to speak of Erebus made even the god of death fearful.
Lucifer had his fair share of horrifying memories of that god. After Father, Lucifer, and his other brethren had finally overpowered the primordials in the war, only Erebus remained, and even then, with all their combined might, they barely succeeded.
“We are straying away from why we brought you here. As you are the creator, you have the greatest understanding of the primal soul. You can change its very nature and and repair the damage left behind from the primordial war that was never resolved as well as improving upon the universe. If you do not, then at some point, everything as we know it will come apart.”
“Are you suggesting that the universe will eventually collapse on itself and be destroyed?! That’s ludicrous! Do you even know when it will happen?” Lucifer shouted.
“As of now, we can only see five hundred thousand years into the future. Beyond that, time becomes too distorted to judge,” Thanatos answered.
“Even if I did know how to fix it, I don’t have that same power anymore. How do you expect me to-”
As he was about to list off his complaints, Thanatos held up his hand to silence him and said, “You will use my strength to do it. I will give you my very being, and with it, you will craft a weapon so that you might shrive clean the light from God’s corporeal form. In your efforts to repair this world, God will surely become a hindrance.”
“He’s already seeing to that! He wishes to flood the world and erase all traces of life.”
“That is only one of many hurdles you will face in the coming days. Overcome the flood, and you will be met with a period of peace" that will allow you to prepare for the future,” Thanatos said, in an effort to calm his nervous attitude.
“But what does the future hold?” he asked.
“You will have to learn that for yourself,” Styx said as she looked at Thanatos and frowned.
“It is time,” he nodded as his hand reached up and gripped his face tightly before ripping it free from his torso.
“What is happening?”
“Thanatos is giving you the entirety of his being to grant you the power you’ll need for the future,” Styx answered as he reached out and held his skull as the rest of his body began to dissipate and be absorbed into it.
The moment his body had been completely absorbed into his skull, Styx held it tightly to her chest.
Her eyes then looked up at Lucifer as she said, “I am giving you my brother with the trust that you will treat him well and put him to good use.”
Lucifer blinked in surprise when she heard her refer to Thanatos as her brother.
“Hold out your hand,” she ordered and he did.
Gingerly, she placed Thanatos’s skull in his hand.
Her expression hardened as she said, “Actually, as a precaution, I will make sure that you are unable to lose track of him and prevent him from being stolen away.”
She waved her hand through the air and a thread formed through Thanatos’s eye sockets and made strap that could be tied around Lucifer’s waist.
Once he had finished fitting the strap around him, she then said, “Now take him and hurry on to the Ark. You do not have much time before God releases the flood.”
“I know, we only have a couple weeks left.”
“You are mistaken, you have only hours,” she said.
His eyes widened in shock as he shouted, “That’s impossible! We still haven’t traveled to the other lands! We should have plenty of time left!”
“While you were in this space, time traveled far faster during our conversation. Though do not be alarmed for the sake of the other gods. Someone else delivered a message to them all, and they should be on their way to the Ark. Only you and Hestia need to make your way back.”
“But we are days away from the land of Sumer. How will we make it back in time?”
Styx looked down at the river below them and said, “All rivers flow through me. You and Hestia will emerge from a river close to the Ark. From there, you must run with all haste. I cannot bring you too close, lest allow God to sense my presence.”
She then returned her attention to him and said, “Do not forget what we have told you. You are the creator of this world and of all others. It is your responsibility to bring order to the world.”
“I-I will.”
“Then wake up, and be on your way,” she ordered as the space around them faded into nothing.
Selene…
She had been sleeping blissfully until something roused her awake. Her eyelids, though heavy, opened up as she realized that something was wrong.
She wasn’t sure what it was just yet that made her feel that way, but her instincts were telling her that something was very wrong.
She then looked over at Marcus to see if he was alright only to watch as his body was shaking and his breathing had become erratic.
“Lucifer…,” he muttered as his hands clenched into fists.
She’d known about his nightmares for some time as he would bring them up in conversations every now and then, but this looked to be something more serious than he was letting on.
Concerned, she reached out and took hold of his shoulders and started to gently shake him awake.
“Marcus, wake up. You’re having a nightmare,” she said as she continued to shake him, but it did nothing.
She tried to be a little more forceful as she pinched his arms, yet still no response.
Not even pain can break him out of his dreams…?
As she pulled away, she noticed that sparks of static electricity were being emitted from his hands.
What is happening- she thought to herself before his hand jumped to her own and took hold of it in a firm grip.
The electricity from his hand caused her entire body to seize up and her vision began to fade as she was pulled into his dream.
Hestia…
She had found herself in a boundless space speaking to a being beyond her comprehension, one of unfathomable darkness, but then, all of a sudden she had become surrounded by water and could no longer breathe. Water nearly filler her lungs until she quickly closed her mouth and covered her nose to hold her breath.
She looked up to see light shining above, and started sweeping her legs through the water to swim to the surface. Soon, her arms broke through the current and she swam to shore and found herself inside a cave different from the one she remembered.
How….how did I get here? Where is Lucifer?
“Lucifer! Where are you?” she called out, but could not see or sense him.
But just as she was about to crawl the rest of the way out of the river and look for him, she felt a pulse of energy from within the river. As she turned to look towards the source of that energy, she could see Lucifer’s blonde hair reflecting the light from her own eternally burning hair.
She did not wait for him to swim up to her as she dove in after him and took hold of his hand. The moment she did, a new feeling of dread took hold of him as she sensed a terrifying power coursing through him, something that reeked of death.
Yet she swallowed that fear and grabbed hold of him once more as she pulled him to safety.
When they both broke through the surface of the water and landed on the shore inside the cave, Lucifer was still not moving.
“Hey, wake up!” she shouted as she shook him.
Then she understood that his lungs must’ve been filled with too much water.
She placed her hand on his back and circulated heat throughout his body to evaporate the water in his lungs.
Within seconds his eyes flew open and steam left his mouth and nose with traces of water leaking out.
He then turned to look at her as he said, “Hestia...we need to hurry and-”
“I know. We must return to the Ark. On your feet at once,” she said firmly, but with a soft tone.
He nodded and pulled himself up, although wobbly, he gritted his teeth and took a few steps forward.
“I believe we only have a few hours left before the flood begins. I’m not sure where we are, but we should be close enough. We will make it back.”
Cain…
The day of the flood had arrived for them, and he had been running around like mad to make sure everything was sorted out and prepared for when God brought down his might upon them.
Noah, the human who had crafted this massive structure, had put himself in charge of housing a pair of every kind of animal that he could find into the arc. As for the other humans living in the world, many thought that he was still nothing but a drunken old fool and refused to board, but still. There were others that believed him, choosing to join and even assist him with the man kinds of animals.
As for Cain, he was put in charge of managing all of the different gods who had arrived from all across the world.
“How are there so many of them? This is insanity! There had to have been thousands of gods that have arrived. Where did they all come from?” Cain complained as he was sorting out where the gods Izanami and Izanagi were going to stay.
Apophis, who had remained by his side ever since they returned from Greece, put a hand on his shoulder and for a moment, he felt calmer. He could not feel the sensation of touch anymore, but he could sense energy flowing into her from her hand.
“This world is much larger than you realize Cain. It may have felt small to you when it was just you, your brother and your parents Adam and Eve, but this world is meant for something much larger. Terra is the focal point, the center of this universe. Not in the literal physical sense, but in the fundamentally spiritual and cultural sense. Tens of thousands of cultures will be born and will die on this planet, for thousands upon thousands of years. These gods that have arrived, hoping to survive the flood, will be the ones to bring about the creation of these different cultures.”
“Does that mean that we are meant to survive this flood, regardless of what God does?” Cain asked.
Apophis nodded, but with a stern expression, she said, “Although, you must not let the certainty that you will survive blind you. This will be far from the most difficult trial that will await your future, for which I am here to guide you through.”
“I appreciate that. Although...I’m a little more concerned with the involvement of the Archangel here,” Cain said as he eyed a man who towered over everyone, with scarlet hair and wings, golden light shining from every part of his body, and a shockingly jolly expression on his face.
The archangel’s name was Samael, one of the Seraphim class of angels that Lucifer once belonged to.
When he first arrived, Cain didn’t trust him at all. Especially not after what Lucifer had told him of his experience with one of his fellow Seraphim by the name of Cassiel.
However, Samael argued that his reasons for being here were to aid those aboard the arc and to help out a certain someone who would eventually arrive to join them.
That person that Samael was looking for still hadn’t arrived, so he wondered if he had just lied to them.
Even Apophis, although told him it would be alright to let him aboard, seemed especially nervous around him.
Then, while he was absorbed in thought, Apophis pointed at something in the sky and said, “There he is!”
“Hm, what?” Cain mumbled as he turned around and followed her gaze. It was difficult for him to see as what she was pointing towards seemed to be levitating in front of the sun.
He squinted his eyes as he tried to get a better look at the unusual figure but once its form began to come into focus, it visage was unmistakable to him.
God had arrived.
With his arms outstretched, the wind began to pick up violently and clouds began to appear so fast that all the light was quickly blotted out as the land became shrouded in grey.
Almost immediately, a heavy rainfall fell upon the earth, lighting crackled in the sky, and ferocious winds caused what little remained of the forest to sway.
“This can’t be all he plans to hit us with, can it?” Cain pondered.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he immediately regretted them, for in the distance, he saw something rise above the horizon. A flowing mass that quickly gained in size as it continued forward and swept up the land in its destruction.
As God summoned tsunamis and storms to wipe them out, Cain locked eyes with him, with a burning rage filling his chest.
Cain wanted to march out there and curse him until his lungs filled with water til he could no longer speak. After all, he would not die no matter what happened to him.
Yet Apophis pulled on his arm and shook her head no. She knew what he was feeling, and as much as he wanted to, he knew it would amount to nothing.
He could only grit his teeth and bear the anger of seeing him attempt to kill them.
Cain then called out, “Noah! Raise the ramp! We cannot wait for them any longer!”
Hearing that, Samael’s expression became angered as he walked over and said, “Wait! We must wait and give them more time!”
Cain stared up at him and said, “We have no more time! God is already here and so is his flood. If we wait any longer, we won’t be able to raise it at all and we will all drown!”
“Enough arguing! I see Lucifer and Hestia approaching! Let them through!” Apophis shouted as she spotted them running through a field.
“Noah, prepare to raise it after they come aboard!” Cain shouted, but Samael continued to protest.
“No! There’s still one other person!” he shouted as he was about to run outside to look for them.
Apophis raised her hand as if to stop him herself, but instead, Kronos stepped in. He placed a hand on the back of his head and suspended him in time, making him look like a living statue.
“We...cannot allow...God to know that...another of his...sons had...betrayed him,” Kronos said as he grounded the words out while struggling to hold Samael in place.
Before Kronos could collapse, another god arrived by the name of Hypnos and snapped his fingers in front of the Seraphim.
Kronos’s fell to his knees in exhaustion, and so did Samael as well as he was put to sleep.
The moment he fell to the ground, Lucifer and Hestia boarded the Ark, and Cain shouted at Noah to raise the ramp.
Lucifer stood in front of Samael with shock and confusion on his face as he said, “Why is Samael here?”
“He said that he was waiting for someone else to board the Ark, but that person never showed up. He was about to rush out in look for them but Kronos and Hypnos stopped him.
Lucifer’s eyes narrowed as he mused, “Who could he have been waiting for…?
Just as the ramp was being raised up, Cain her a voice shouting in the background.
“Wait! Wait, let us in! Please!” a girls voice called out to them.
Cain looked through the entryway and noticed that she was hauling a man with burn marks all over his back.
“Is that...a fallen angel?” Cain asked while Lucifer stared out at him in horror.
“Gabriel, no…,” he said under his breath as he looked like he was going to rush outside.
Cain quickly wrapped his arms around him and pulled against him to keep him inside.
“If you go out there after them, you’ll die!” Cain shouted in his ear before turning to look at Kronos and Zeus.
“You two! Help them and bring them inside!” he ordered and they nodded.
Before he could even blink, the girl and the wounded man had already been brought aboard just as the ramp had finished closing.
Zeus and Kronos both collapsed onto the floor, panting and wide eyed. It seemed that being in the very presence of God took a lot out of them. If they had the ability to sense the energies in living things, then God’s energy must be traumatizing for them.
The easy part, gathering everyone on board and closing the Ark, was over.
Now came the hard part, surviving the flood itself.
For the next forty days and nights, they had to endure the endless falling of rain and the tsunamis beating them around from every other direction.
The gods of the ocean’s would take shifts pushing back against the waters and Hestia would do her best to keep the Ark as warm and comfortable for everyone as she could. The gods of crafts and forging worked tirelessly to repair the damage being done to the Ark with what little resources they had access to, even drawing upon their power to make new materials. Everyone pulled their weight to maintain the strength of the arc and to prolong their survival.
Throughout it all, Cain had took it upon himself to lead them through this calamity. Despite the fact that he was an undead human, the gods, titans, uncursed humans, and other creatures of all kinds turned to him for guidance. He had to be the one to pull them through this nightmare as Lucifer and Hestia had been absent and were not fully aware of the situation.
The both of them had explained to him in great detail their reasons for being gone and being late to arrive, but there was little patience for anyone to listen.
With everyone’s lives at risk, all life was equally important and took priority over absurd excuses.
During the first few days of the flood, Lucifer tended to Gabriel who was unresponsive and still recovering from his wounds. Samael as well stayed by his side and the two brothers had a lengthy discussion that Cain did not feel like eavesdropping on.
The person that he was most curious about however was this child that had carried the fallen Seraphim to the Ark.
Reyna, she said her name was.
She sat with her arms wrapped around her legs and had maintained a look of absolute rage on her face when staring at Samael. Although, it seemed to be his wings that angered her the most. As if the mere sight of an angel filled her with hatred.
He decided to sit down next to her and ask, “Care to tell me what’s bothering you? You seem filled with anger every time you look at Samael.”
Reyna glanced at Cain, sized him up, and continued glaring at Samael as she said, “An Archangel by the name of Cassiel killed my family and wiped out my entire village. He also did that to Gabriel. Stripped the light of God from his body and burned his wings to ashes as Gabriel tried to protect me.”
A passing god had been listening in on their conversation and said, “Did you say Cassiel? I remember an angel very similar to Samael here come to me and my group of gods to warn us.”
Lucifer, Samael, Cain, and Reyna all stared up at the god at the same time.
Lucifer then asked, “His wings, were they white? A pure white color?”
The god nodded.
“And how many wings did he have? Six pairs of them correct?”
“The very same.”
The four of them stared at each other as they tried to make sense of all of this.
It explained why so many gods managed to reach the Ark. When Cain returned with the Greek gods, Samael was already there waiting for Gabriel.
Not only that, but it would have been impossible for Lucifer to have made it to all the different lands even if he hadn’t been trapped in that weird place.
The real question was why.
Why had Cassiel helped them?
On the final day, Cain, Lucifer, and Hestia all made their way to the top of the Ark and in every direction there was nothing left but water. However, instead of a raging sea and chaotic storms, the sun shined overhead and the waters were still.
The one thing that Cain felt could ruin this moment was if God showed up. So, he looked up, and sure enough, there he was.
God, floating in the sky in front of the sun, fists clenched in anger and frustration as he said, “Hmm, perhaps surviving a meteor strike would come to be more difficult.”
Lucifer shouted back at him in anger, “Are you really so petty as to not admit when you have lost?! You tried to kill us by drowning the world and you failed. Just give up!”
“Be silent!
God raised his arm to the sky, as if to strike them down. However, before he could do anything, his body seemed to liquefy. His arm that was raised turned from blazing golden light to black murky water.
“What is happening?!” he was shouting in anger, “What have you done to me?”
The rest of his body started to liquefy and before long the entirety of him had turned into water except for the top of his head. God continued to flail around and before he could disappear entirely a woman made of black polluted water appeared in front of him.
She looked at him with anger and contempt, and with a cold voice she said, “For betraying your word to leave if they survived your great flood, you will be banished, trapped in an inescapable prison for the foreseeable future.”
As God’s body turned to water vapor and disappeared, the strange woman turned around to look Lucifer in the eyes and said, “He won’t be gone forever I’m sure.”
“How long exactly do you think he’ll remain imprisoned?” Lucifer asked her.
She sighed and said, “There’s really no way of knowing. For all our sake, just hope that it will be enough.”
Soon after she too turned into water vapor and vanished leaving Cain, Lucifer, and Hestia to look far out at their drowned world.
Marcus and Selene’s eyes both flew open as the nightmare came to an end.
Both were breathing heavily and shaking from fear.
In that dream, they had spent all forty days of that flood feeling the emotions of each point of view and it was overwhelming.
Marcus then realized that Selene was on his chest and reacting the same way he was. Her hand was held tightly in his own and he let go.
“Did you...did you see that nightmare with me?” he asked her.
She looked up at him, with a shell shocked expression, and nodded.
“I...I had no idea that these were the kinds of nightmares you had to deal with,” she said weakly.
She rested her head up against his chest and seemed to have no interest in moving off of him, for which he wasn’t complaining.
“I don’t want to sleep for a while.”