The Morning Star

I was beautiful, so beautiful; a divine creature, exquisite to a fault.

My name reflected my splendor:  "Lucifer", for the morning star.  If mortals had beheld my beauty, surely they would have been struck blind.  All manner of men would have offered their hearts and souls to me, I knew, struck dumb with awe by a single word.

To be certain, I was prideful.  To this day, I will never know why my pride was such a sin to the one who made me so deserving of that pride.

I stood by His side in the beginning of all days, sitting by His feet and basking in the light.  My wings were the white of alabaster and as tall as two men.  With them, I shaded His throne.  My position was one of glory, as I deserved.  No other was so exalted as I, short of the being I guarded.  I was deserving of all the glory existing in the heavens.  My blood boiled continuously at the thought that I stood second, my teeth grinding in my jaw.  I stood in the brightest of lights and yet I, whose name was "Star", was not that light.  It was not enough.

I stood and lowered my wings, facing the Creator.

"I am the one deserving of the throne above the clouds.  I will stand in the heavens as the Most High, and you will be my guard."  The words fell.  My voice did not waver.

The Creator stood.  With all the fury of the Most Divine Being, I was cast to the ground.  My brother, Michael, stood over me, his face ashen with hurt.

"Lucifer," he spoke, sorrow in his voice.  "I cannot let you have what you wish."

I swept to my feet as the floor turned black underneath me and began to crackle under my weight.  My eyes, red with fury, were turned to Him. "I will be God!" I thundered.  I raised my hands to Him.  Michael intercepted me, his spear deftly finding my center.  I screamed as the ground crumbled below my feet, and the last thing I heard was His sorrowful murmur: "You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created perfect, but are no longer, for iniquity was found in you."

And so, Lucifer became Satan.

Home I made in the darkness below.  I no longer basked in the light.  My wings were stained black with my blood and shed feathers with each step.  I watched the creation of the world not from my perch beside the throne above the clouds, but from the pit of sin below.  I watched His first "humans".  I saw the flaw in their design.  I went to the woman and befriended her.  A single tree He had forbidden to them.  I disguised my form to carry out my sin.  "That tree is not evil," I said to the woman. "On the contrary!  You will gain the position of glory reserved for the greatest in the heavens.  You will have knowledge incomparable to any other."  Lesser being as she was, the woman did not question my words.  She ate of the fruit and eagerly shared it with her mate.  As I was cast from the heavens, so too were they cast out from paradise.  But my revenge was far from complete.  The Lord did not guard His humans.  They were as ripe for the picking as the forbidden fruit, and I had already been cursed.

I whispered violence towards self in the ears of children.  "Look at yourself.  Fat.  Stupid.  Unlovable.  Living hurts; you are fragile, and can easily end your suffering."

I went to men in their dreams, showing them my naked human form.  "Your wife is old and ugly," I whispered, fingers tracing their lips as they slipped into desire.  "You could take another young beauty right now.  They are waiting outside.  Marriage is no more than ink on paper."

I inspired hatred in one's neighbor.  "How dare he speak to you in that way!  Hate... hate!  Your hands are strong!  He deserves to feel your wrath!"

I sowed discord between mother and child, inciting murder of the most innocent. "It is an inconvenience, a parasite that feeds on your strength.  Strangle it in the womb and you will not have to even see it.  It need not be human to you, and you can live your life free and easy."

I turned pure souls black to create my company in the pit.  The hatred I inspired caused wrath and murder.  The desire I sowed caused lies and theft, adultery, and lust.  Pride was my greatest ally; I could inflate egos and cause all of the above.  I favored usurpers and supported them with all of my being.  They could be led to genocide, tyranny, and other evils that each carved a new mark in the Creator's heart.  The more darkness I brought upon a soul, the closer they would be to me upon joining me in my pit of filth and despair.  They would crawl in the muck at my feet as I imagined someday stifling His light.  I would grow happier the more that joined me in hopeless and eternal suffering.

The Lord, despite His pain at my hand, turned a blind eye to the suffering I brought.  The "gift" that the humans and I shared proved to be both of our undoing.  The gift of choice brought misery in every form.  It was the greatest gift, free will, that leads us all to the greatest suffering.