CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Life is not palpable, it's a mere hallucination that is cultivated from the silhouettes cast by the flashes of composition. Being is fiction and death is the certainty of it all. Saddled with the burden of existing, void of actual fulfilment of purpose, depicts the construct of life as a mere mist, intangible. For one day, we all will wake up out of this dream-dubbed life, into the certainty of cessation [death].

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The pilgrimage between the world of the living and the dead is segregated by the veil of death and life. As intimate as they are, it would take an unbroken esprit's expedition to get from one to the further. It is a journey everyone must traverse at one juncture, bringing his or her walk to its conclusion. For as it is inscribed, there's a period to be born and a duration to die. Traversing between two earths brandishes a balance of an unspoken truth, of the true objective of all existence and the purpose that abides in the nucleus of one's soul, laced into the fabric of one's DNA, or essence.

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There's a defective journey called life and in it is embedded with the true meaning of the life lived, that is not designed to be completed but to be attempted. The goal is not the jewel of the race, but the tale of how the race was run.

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Seth wondered what was wrong with everyone. It looked as though something bad had happened, and a crowd was gathering. Seth recognized his father as he knelt beside someone. He was weeping. Blood was visible around them.

'Are you okay? What happened, Dad?' He was staring into his father's face, but it appeared that his father couldn't see or even hear him. 'Hey! What happened? Dad, can you please tell me what is going on?'

'What's going on is that you are so dead.' A warm familiar voice spoke from behind him. Seth froze. With the voice came the realization and memories of everything that had happened, beginning from the moment of impact and rewinding to the time he was at the chapel of angels back in Italy. The remarkable memories were more vivid, while the less important ones were vague and faded very quickly.

'This is your life, son. A rather unique and admirable one, worthy of an encore by the elders beyond, I must admit,' came Lucifer's warm voice.

All of a sudden, they were back at the Chapel of Angels. Perception and thought had never been as clear as things were to Seth then. In this state, one would comprehend conversation and apprehend his environment with complete accuracy. There was no cloudiness caused by the attitudes, prejudices, preconceptions, or doubts that always left man so unsure and confused that he spent more time trying to be who he was not deep inside.

Seth could now sense the confused nature of the one he had depended on all his life and whom he had always referred to as his guardian angel. However, something about how he pranced around, gliding and speaking so lightly of the whole situation, made him want to keep listening.

'What is going on?' Seth repeated under his breath, as though he were thinking to himself.

'I know that you are confused right now, and it seems everything has been one big lie, but I can assure you that this is very normal,' he said with both hands slightly raised to calm Seth, who looked as if he would jump out of his skin.

'How could this be normal? I'm dead, and you are here telling me it's normal. Nothing is normal here.' His voice hit a very high pitch, with the expression to go with it.

'That is why I said it is.' He held back for a bit, not to repeat the word. 'All this anger is quite understandable, for I can relate with you on this and how you are feeling right now.'

Seth was uncontrollable at that moment, for he couldn't keep calm. 'Don't tell me you understand, because you don't.'

'Yes, I do.' He spoke harshly to get him to calm down. 'I am a son misjudged by a father without a chance to table my cause. I was ousted from heaven and branded as Satan, a deceiver and a bringer of evil—the devil. A scapegoat, if you would. It is just so unfair …' He broke off.

The room darkened. Seth could feel the sorrows of eons and millennia rush into the room. Lucifer cowered for but a moment. He had never seen him that way before.

Well, there was nothing he was going to do about his pitiful state all the same.

Or was there?

'Of course, there is, and that is why I need you.' Lucifer looked like a noble friend who was in dire need of help. More like Pythias pleading with Damon to take his place in prison while he went to say goodbye to friends and family before execution day. This time, though, Seth was yet to fathom the help he could render to so mighty a creature as Lucifer.

Besides, he was now dead, and all was lost for him. Why would he still be bothered about another when all was lost, especially the so-called destiny that had deprived him of living like a normal boy all his life?

Lucifer had been watching him as these thoughts skated across his mind.

'I led an insurrection with a third of heaven's angels who shared my thinking. The Most High was too caught up in being so high that He refused to listen to our complaints and disapproval of His plans of making man and setting him above the works of his hands. That includes us angels.'

'If I remember, does not the Bible state that we were made a "little lower than angels?" In that case, there should be no cause for offense,' Seth quipped.

Lucifer was getting impatient, but he knew that he had a little more teaching to get his protégé willing and ready for the task. 'The original Hebrew render of that passage actually has Elohim, the triune God, in the place where you have angels.' There was a pause between the angel and the human spirit.

Lucifer spread his massive wings and assumed a form Seth had never seen before, in between hideous and magnificently beautiful. His wings, which were more like talons, no longer bore radiant light, but they were enamoured with what seemed like tiny chips of precious stones of all colours ever known and many more yet seen by any man. These colourings, however, draped the angel with a dreadful covering.

Suddenly, huge chains appeared on Lucifer's wrists, ankles, and neck. The chains glowed with the colour of live coals fresh from a furnace. The chains were large and heavy, as though he had the weight of the world on his back, in his full-blown frame. He looked like a chained dog who had suffered a great deal. His appearance was pitiful, likewise the punishment that had been bestowed on him.

Seth was terrified. From the hideous form now standing before him came the same silky-smooth voice that Seth had known all his life.

'Don't be afraid, young human. This was unjustly posted on me by heaven. What villain is there anywhere who was ever confined and clothed in raiment such as these without a fair hearing? The deity is divine and almighty and therefore without bounds, since he has no one to offer any useful counsel without a threat of being arrayed thusly.'

In what seemed like less than the wink of an eye, Seth and Lucifer were flying swiftly across the Norwegian skies. Lucifer was back to splendid brilliance and acted as though nothing had changed. They soared above the cold and frozen oceans in the region. The glaciers and sprouting icebergs were a sight to behold.

'I will show you the world for what it is and what it will become if you do not perform your God-ordained duty for humanity,' said Lucifer, his face stern and fixed.

'What is it now? You are on God's side? Or am I to mediate between you and God? I am getting confused about all this. I don't even know how I could be of any use on earth now that my body lies crumpled in a morgue somewhere.'

Lucifer was quiet.

They soared through moors, mountains, endless grasslands, woodlands, savannahs, arable lands. They flew past the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Pyramid of Giza, and many more wonders of the world.

Lucifer stopped mid-flight as did Seth. They floated just above an American aircraft carrier docked on one of the ports off the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

'I am sorry for what I'm about to show to you, for no one should see this kind of sadness, even though you are dead. For you were meant to cure the world of all this pain and exchange it with the picture in your heart. That was your mission and the destiny you were being prepared for.' Lucifer's face lost its charms, and what was left was the hardest of truth.

'I want to see that which I was meant to do, for it is my destiny … or was my destiny.' Seth mirrored the seriousness expressed by Lucifer, and Seth seemed driven to the edge.

'It may still be yours,' Lucifer whispered under his breath and then continued with a hard voice. 'Come, young human.'

In a flash, they were somewhere in Africa where a malnourished young mother was giving her six-month-old baby, who was dying of thirst, water from a roadside pothole where brackish water stood. The baby drank of the dirty, bacteria-infested water. Seth's eyes lit up in shock as he reached out to stop her, but he couldn't touch her. 'Stop 'em. Don't let her do this.'

Seth turned to Lucifer when he couldn't reach her. Lucifer stood with his hair in the wind. 'I'm sorry, my friend. I'm not in the position of helping anyone, but their angels can. I have no such powers, and neither do you. We can only watch them suffer, not save,' replied Lucifer with a subtle voice. 'But if I am restored to my glory, such suffering will be no more.' He spoke convincingly.

They flashed out again and appeared in Bahasa, Indonesia, in a suburban area where a kid was rustling up some food, from the dumpster of a local restaurant, to take home to his blind father and four-year-old sister. After he had succeeded in bringing home some food, they were all happy together. He cleaned up his little sister's mouth. When they were through with dinner, he saw some other kids who asked him to join them to play. He headed out again, but this time, he never returned. He was struck down by a speeding vehicle that never stopped to help him. Seth screamed out, and he broke down in tears, for no one came to the dying boy's aid until he died twenty minutes later.

There was another flash, and this time they were in a small town in Rösrath, Germany. A man hanged himself in front of his kids because he just lost his job. Then they went to New York City where a man was raping his nine-year-old son. Next, they went to the Middle East where a four-year-old boy was playing outside his father's house with a live grenade while the parents quarrelled. The little kid mistakenly removed the pin and blew himself up.

The flash brought him before another horrible scene of a fourteen-year-old girl who was swinging on a noose after having been raped by her stepfather. He left her there for days until her corpse began to smell. That was what attracted the neighbours. This was somewhere in China.

Then they appeared somewhere in Sudan as two little boys, one eight, the other seven, both carrying rifles in the heat of a clash between rebel forces and the government troops. When it was all over, the two kids were dead in the dirt as the desert wind blew the dust on them.

'No more. Please, no more,' Seth cried. Lucifer was determined to show him one final picture before closing the show.

This time around, they were in Romania, not far from where his accident took place. The face this time was familiar. It was the little boy he had been trying to help before he died. The kid sat outside an uncompleted shed, crying on the floor and rolling all over the place, while his wounded mother dragged herself out to console her son. The boy could not forgive himself for causing his death.

'Please, no more. I beg of you. I can't stand it anymore,' the young priest cried out. His face was covered in tears.

'You have seen the world as it is … in its present state of chaos. It is a far cry from what it yet shall become at the hand of an impending doom,' said the angel, who seemed shaken at the evil he knew would soon take place.

Seth was finding it difficult to cope with the sadness and pain he had been exposed to. 'Can there be anything worse than what you have shown to me? For I have seen sadness and evil thrive in this world, and there was nothing I could do about it.'

'The answer to your last question is yes. I am on God's side. The goodness God put in his angels is still with us. I understand why it would be difficult to see, thanks to all the negative branding and publicity by all of heaven's heralds. I admit I might have gone overboard at some point, but I know better now.

'On the other hand, the exceedingly great evil that is on the horizon is none of my makings, even though I will eventually be labelled as the author of the mischief. Its potency is so great that it will ruin my chances of ever seeing my Father again to ask for mercy. Please, I implore you to disregard the teachings of the clergy and all that you hold dear. See it through my eyes … it is the truth … and that is why I have confided in you alone about my secret return to the Father. He is full of mercy and abounding in everlasting love. Is that not what the Bible states?' He paused and exhaled a blast of angelic wind.

'The burden of evil is greater than you can imagine, and this have I bore these infinite years. When I was a young cherub, the Father taught me deep secrets of love and power that no other angel knew about. Secrets of choice, consequences of choice. I feel I was overexposed to the dark secrets of the Godhead that I was moved to experiment with opposites. Yes, that is what humankind has done and keeps doing. Man has greatly tampered with the balance of things that the spirit of the earth is sworn to expunge man from the surface of the earth.

'You asked why I needed you. The answer is simple: only a man can correct an anomaly that was created by man just as only he has the sole ability to destroy the earth. He just needs to rape a woman to cause so much anguish that she calls out to natural forces against him. She only needs to pour out the blood of the unborn child in her womb to grieve the earth deep enough to cause a landslide, earthquakes, or a tsunami.' As he spoke, the sky turned dark red and purple. Lucifer looked up and said, 'A preview of what is to become of the earth soon. Stand back and watch with me.'

As he said this, they both observed the Mediterranean Sea. The waters began to recede. So much so that the ten-thousand-foot-long carrier housing over five hundred fighter jets was now on land where there used to be water. The crew screamed frantically. Men jumped from the massive ship. Some of them tripped just as they jumped and landed headfirst, dying instantly. A man shouted in Latin that there were so many nuclear weapons, there would be no hope for the whole town when the waters came back.

He was right. Seth had never seen such destruction in all his life. Not a soul was left alive in a city of nine million people.

The next instant, they were floating above a large marketplace somewhere in Brazil. There was no bustle as everyone scrambled about their various businesses. Seth noticed that everyone looked at his neighbour with grave suspicion. Everyone seemed to expect the worst. Mothers clutched their children close. Men walked around with their pistols in one hand and the other on their holster or the hilt of a sword or dagger.

In a matter of minutes, there was a shrill scream of a woman. Frenzy and pandemonium ripped the air. Everyone struck out against his or her neighbour, clawing at eyes, stabbing, shooting sporadically, throwing, and clubbing. The attack was so unprovoked and spontaneous that it ended as quickly as it had begun. Only a handful of men were left scampering away. At least three thousand people lay slaughtered in cold blood.

Seth covered his face in his palms and wept.

With the hot tears and emotions came a tornado of a catastrophic event, all ravaging his mind. There were screams of terror, war cries, crackles of hideous laughter, a blood-red sky, explosions, massive airstrikes, meteors from outer space slamming into large buildings.Frenzy and cacophony of all sorts of destructive events were happening at the same time in Seth's mind. They were so vivid, though, that it felt as though they were happening.

'The lost pages of the Necrom bear inscriptions in the ancient language that I have tried to teach you. The forgotten tongue of man, you remember, don't you?' Seth lifted his face from his palms. He looked about to find they were standing in an open field of knee-length grasses swaying lightly in the evening breeze. Lucifer was holding up seven worn old pages, made of some sort of tunic, to his face. Seth made a move to snatch them, but Lucifer quickly moved them beyond Seth's reach.

'What is it you want from me?' Seth asked under his breath.

'The chariot will soon be here for you, so I will indeed proceed to my point. These pages are the seven most significant pages on earth that have ever existed. They were written in the blood of Cain.' Seth had a surprised expression on his face while Lucifer continued. 'Yeah, the same one who killed his brother. As it is, the only thing that was good about him was the fact that he gave his blood for a worthy cause. They are from the first book of the world, and the only one written in the first and forgotten tongue, and are known as the pages of the Necrom. Necromancy, if you know what that is. The pages could be used to do great good or an unimaginable evil. For the sake of brevity, we will concentrate on the former. Its capacity to mitigate or even quell the impending danger that you have been privileged to foresee. A great evil is about to hit the human race that is far worse than anything you could have been able to bear in the visions of your mind. As I said earlier, I am not responsible for it, but I will be responsible for it by heaven's great monarch, except I do something.' He paused in his characteristic style to make sure that everything he said was receiving comprehension.

Seth reminded him that he was already dead, and there was nothing he could do. 'Yes,' Lucifer replied. 'For I can bring you back to life before the angels come for you.'

Seth really wanted to make a difference in the world, but he couldn't do it if he were dead at age twenty-one.

Lucifer continued.

'A righteous man who had not sinned all his life is the description of the person in front of me. Such a person is the only one who can read these pages to stop the impending danger about to be unleashed in the earth.' There were galloping of horses and a rumbling of chariot wheels in the distance. 'They're coming for you, so you'd have to make a choice real soon.' Lucifer came a bit closer and held his hands as though he were still the little boy at the abbey many years ago. 'It's going to be a tough choice between saving the earth and your eternal rest, but I am sure you will always make a great choice because you have the noblest soul I have seen among humankind.'

Seth disengaged from his grip. The sound of the coming chariot was louder and closer now. 'The destruction would happen anyway," Seth said."It's already prophesied in the scriptures. It would mean that the time has come.'

Lucifer seemed rather nonchalant. 'Ignorance, a dreaded waster of men through countless ages past to enlighten you, son. This disaster is entirely unnecessary and has nothing to do with the judgment of the earth and humankind. Moreover, you will be giving me a chance to mend things with God. Or don't you think that wrongs can be made right?'

He could see the chariot and a dozen white horses galloping on fire, barely four hundred meters away. The rider was beautiful, with long, silky, dark hair and skin like burnished brass.

Seth's heart beat wildly. Lucifer, in his full-blown angel mode, floated closer, never breaking his gaze. The gap closed on both sides. The gruesome images came back to Seth with all the horror, screaming, and clawing at him from his mind.

Seth stood in between both choices with many thoughts scampering in different directions, causing him to lose his focus. Lucifer knew that this thought process could fall either way, so he added a little incentive to help him decide. 'Remember the little boy who thinks he's responsible for your death. Would you want him to go on suffering when he has a sick mother who cannot take care of herself? What about Father Adams, the one who saw you through and gave you all the love that no father can give his son?'

The chariot had finally arrived, and the angel was calling out for him to come. 'Seth, it's time,' said the angel, as his light filled the place. Lucifer then gave a soft smile as his hair was in the wind. 'It's okay, young human, but do me one favour: Tell heaven that it wasn't me. When the disaster finally comes, maybe they would believe you.' Seth looked at him, with pity, as he turned to leave.

'Lucifer, you are not supposed to be here. Leave this place at once, or incur the wrath of heaven that I will serve thee,' said the angel Ariel.

'It is nice to see you, brother. How long has it been since your betrayal?' Lucifer replied with a subtle voice.

Ariel pulled out his sword of light and pointed it at him. 'I will not allow you to deceive this soul,' said Ariel, while Seth was shocked at the calmness of Lucifer and the aggression of Ariel.

'Lucifer, do you promise to help me stop this impending doom?' Seth called out. 'I swear it, with all that is holy and pure, that we will save the world together,' Lucifer said with so much sincerity in his eyes.

'No, Seth. It's all a lie,' Ariel cried out.

'You don't know him as I do. He's my friend,' Seth's voice went up.

'Seth, come with me,' the angel called out again. Seth blocked out his ear and reached out his hand, while Ariel screamed out, 'Powers of the great light, shine on the righteous and let darkness flee.' Ariel's voice echoed and rippled into emptiness, even as Seth took the hand of Lucifer and was swept off in bright light. 

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In the general hospital morgue, several corpses were lying on tables, as the fridge compartments were all filled up. Others were kept on tables, tagged, and covered with white sheets. Two male attendants were clowning around to a new staff member. Jerry was the new guy, while the tall attendant was Alfonso. He was six-feet-three inches, and the short guy was Giovani at five-feet-four-inches tall. They were having fun scaring the new guy. 'Hey kid, if I were you, I would tuck my tail and run,' said Alfonso.

Gio chuckled at his words. 'Yeah, tuck your tail and run, kid.' He waited for Alfonso's next utterance. 'You don't look like you've got the stones to handle what goes on in here.' Alfonso lit up a cigarette. 'Yeah, you lack the stones, boy, the stones.' Giovani stressed the words with his deep Italian accent.

Alfonso walked close to a corpse, lifeless on the table. Then he removed his cigarette with two fingers and uncovered the face of the body, while Giovanni and Jerry moved close to see. He puffed smoke on its face. Giovanni had a stupid grin on his face, while Jerry had a surprised face on. 'Like I said, kid. You'll have to grow an extra pair of stones if you plan on surviving here.' He puffed some smoke in the air.

'Sur … Sur … survive?' Jerry asked in fear, while Gio did his part by rubbing it in.

'Yeah, survive, kid, because not all who walk through these doors make it out … alive,' said Giovani, with his eyes wide open, scaring the new kid to his pants.

'Why? Why is that?' Jerry asked.

'The kid wants to know why. Why is a big word around here? Do you know why you are here, moose?' Giovani asked him. Jerry was a high school graduate who never went to college but was desperate to support his mum. For her sake, he was willing to do any job there was. 'Let me tell you something about the dead,' Alfonso said, puffing his cigarette. 'It's a lonely place on the other side. It's every corpse for itself, especially when you die alone, like some of these goons here.' He leaned on one of the tables, where a corpse was being covered with a white sheet.

Giovani had gum in his mouth, with the most annoying grin, chewing with all his teeth open and making chewing noise. 'This is my favorite part,' he whispered to Jerry while Alfonso continued. 'Sometimes, these dead bodies come back to our world to snatch the living and take them to the other side for companionship. And when they come to our outside, the first thing they say is "Why is it so cold in here?"' Alfonso used all the theatrics in the book to scare Jerry, which was working. Giovani kept his eyes only inches away from Jerry's cheek, adding all the sounds required to make the story terrifying.

This story had been handed down from one morgue attendant to another for many years. It was said that a morgue attendant by the name of Paulo Batista was the original teller of the story, for he did experience it. But now, the story had been told by hundreds of attendants, just to scare a newcomer. Then Jerry noticed the corpse behind Alfonso getting up from the table. His eyes and mouth were wide open as he let out a scream and ran out the exit. The duo were so excited with what they had achieved and threw a high five in the air. 'That was the bomb. Did you hear the sounds I was making to sweeten the pot, like uuuuuuuh, and aaaaaah? It was perfecto,' said Giovani.

'If you don't know what masterpiece storytelling is, then you should rewind time to hear my delivery because that is a masterpiece for you.' Just then, they heard a sound of something dropping behind them. So, they slowly turned around to see what it was. To their greatest astonishment, a corpse covered in white sheet pulled off the sheet, and when it was off, he said, 'Why is it so cold in here?' The duo screamed out simultaneously, turned to each other, then rushed out the exit. It was Seth, who had just come back to life.

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It had been two days since the death of Father Seth. A crowd of sympathizers had gathered at Seth's home. His father leaned on a cane to support his weight.He was dizzy and light-headed from much weeping the night before. All was well that ended well. An old friend from the abbey in Italy had said this to him the night before.

As he stared at the man, he couldn't grasp the remark or what it meant.

There were others who came to mourn with the grieving father, who seemed so lost and torn apart from the only reason that made his life meaningful. There were flowers and photos of Seth. Many friends and priests alike came in to pay their respects. There was coffee, tea, and biscuits for a light refreshment. So those who were up for it helped themselves, while others took to silence. After a while, Father Adams asked everyone to rise and say a prayer for his son. They all stood up, and with closed eyes, they began to pray. And when their eyes were finally open, Seth was standing in their midst in hospital clothes. The first lady who saw him let out a scream, bringing the attention of all to the ghost in the room. The others stood frozen until some of them crashed on each other to find a way out.

Father Adams did not move an inch, as both men stared at each other, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing until a grand feeling of relief engulfed him. 'Is it really you, my son, or should I exorcise the demon who stands before me?' Seth walked to him, reached for the crucifix on his neck, and kissed it. Both men hugged in tears.

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Shrouded by the reality of the light and darkness, running and coexisting on a parallel plain, and the thin line that separates light from darkness, good from evil, and what is and not seen, Seth was now a completely different man who was conscious of both sides of the divide.

'The air smelt different from what it used to be. Maybe I am more aware of what truly runs through my nostrils and brushes my skin when the leaves of the trees sway. The surface of the lake is rippled in different directions without any disturbance caused. It is the element known as the wind. I understand it now—that all things are orchestrated by a higher being, and we are all subject to the higher laws of a supreme being that governs all things. And the only principle that all things emerge from is sustainability for worship. The Bible speaks of the laws of Moses, how one shall obey them to live and not die for the single aim of worship. So if the world is doomed for destruction, it is only right that I must play my part as a true servant of the creator to do His will, protect man from himself, and keep him on earth for worship.'

The priest sat in the bell tower of the chapel, staring at the world, with the eyes of one who sees things clearly. He could see boys and girls, men and women, of diverse age, race, and creed. They were going about with little or no care in the world, ignorant of the danger that lurks behind every tree and turns. There were children playing in the park, on the swings, merry-go-round, and see-saw, and on the sand. His heart moved for them, for they would never grow up to have children of their own if the world were to end.

That night, Seth went to visit a friend he knew would be glad to see him alive. He had a bag filled with food and medical supplies. The bag was so heavy that he had to swap it on both shoulders to ease the weight. He walked through the alleyways and street corners until he found his friend: the little boy who caused his death. He finally came to their corner in an area for destitution. The boy was giving some not-so-clean water to his sick mother when Seth showed up. 'Holla,' Seth greeted. The boy was so scared that he dropped the water, spilling their last drink for the day. After several explanations, the kid finally came around to believing that he was not a ghost. Seth was dressed in black, wearing his priesthood collar. After Seth had finished calming his friend, whose name was Raul, they both sat down beside a drum fire where over two hundred others were going up and down the space. Many lived in abandoned vehicles, while others created shacks and tents. Seth had to brace himself from breaking down.

Raul was glad that Seth was alive, for he had already worn himself the garment of guilt for being the one that led to Seth's demise. But as it turned out, fate had a different plan. They talked for a while about how hard and trying things had been. Rather, Seth listened to the few people who were seated around the fire. Each one of them had a sad story to tell. While they were still talking, the heavens opened, and it poured. The people scampered to their point of shelter. Raul took Seth into his mother's shack to share their leaking roof. They had a broken pail under the leaking tarp, which was later poured into a barrel for a drink. Their living conditions were the lowest he had seen. Right there and then, he noticed someone out under the rain standing at a distance on the other side of the road. When his eyes were properly adjusted, he saw that it was Lucifer. This was the first time he had seen him since he had been brought back to life. They both stood still and stared for quite a while without uttering any sound. After some time, Seth began walking to him. Just then, a truck passed between them. And he couldn't find Lucifer where he was. He stood for a moment and then headed home.

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A week after his return from the crossroads of life and death, he had set eyes on Lucifer only that one time and had not seen or heard from him since. Seth had been worried. All his life, he had never stayed apart from his guardian angel for this long, as it was a relationship defined by closure. They were two sides of a coin, inseparable.

Seth was a skilled chef, who sometimes experimented with different ingredients to make something new, and fantastic. On this day, he was fusing the Chinese and the Italian cuisines together to get something extraordinary. Cooking was one thing that got his mind off the thought of Lucifer's absence. He sang and danced while cooking. One could say he was in a happy mode. He set his table with two white candles and a bottle of red wine. The table was set, and he was ready to eat, but something was missing. He usually got compliments from Lucifer when he cooked something special. He placed his fork on a piece of carrot and then heard a familiar voice. 'That smells good. You outdid yourself this time,' said Lucifer. Seth paused for a second and went ahead with his meal, acting like he did not care if Lucifer were there or not. 'I see some Italian buttered shrimps, and Chinese pasta, carrots, large chunks of mildly fried onions, guinea beans, kidney beans, and nicely fillet chicken, but there is this sweet and soft smell that I cannot tell what it is.' Lucifer tried to get him to talk.

'Avocado oil mixed with a sprinkle of lemon juice,' said Seth.

'Mmm, mmm, mmm. That's some good food. I wish I could eat some of that.Oh, I forgot that I only eat fruits. Not that I need it, but for its taste, of course. God is the greatest for creating the apple and many, many other things,' he spoke with a coning tongue.

'Where have you been? You left me without a single word for a whole week.' He dropped his cutleries and locked his eyes on Lucifer, with anger in his eyes.

'Aww poor thing. Did I break your heart, and you feel like crying?'

Seth snapped at him. 'It's not funny. Cut it out.'

That brought Lucifer back to his usual charm. 'I never left you. I was always with you. When you take lone walks down the lake and teach at the seminary, and even when you sleep and dream, I was there watching over you, just as I promised you when you were four years old. Time flies, doesn't it? You are twenty-one now, all grown up, and we are still in need of each other.' Lucifer stood by the window even as his last word dropped.

Seth tried to eat, but his friend was not done with him just yet. 'There is a small matter of saving the world, just in case it had slipped your mind. Hmm.' He moved slowly to Seth, who was still focused on finishing his meal. 'Is this the part where we pretend that I do not exist? Oh, let me guess, the silent treatment. May I remind you that the burden of saving the world rests solely on your shoulders, so the sooner you act, the better it is for all of us.' He spoke with a serious tone, while Seth was finished eating.

Seth got up and cleared the table, and in an angry manner, he went back and forth the sink. 'I am not ready yet to do what you want me to do. The world has lasted this long on its own, so it should be able to last another week, month, or even year without me.' Seth spoke as he went in and out of the kitchen. Lucifer could tell that Seth was truly angry, and it would be a bad move to keep pushing hard on him, lest he would break, and all his effort would be wasted.

'You are absolutely correct. The world has lasted this long without any help. I hope it lasts another day without you, son.' He faded away before Seth.

Lucifer stood on the peak of Kilimanjaro, watching the yellow sunset in the distance. The windy air blew against his skin, sending his long hair flying behind. He could barely stand in one place after he had stood a while. He looked around as though he were seeking an object. Then suddenly, he let out a roar that echoed all through the forest, even to the towns and cities beyond. His body changed in the course of his outburst into a scaly dragon of some sort, and his head turned back to his true face. His fingers were claws, and his wings were like that of a giant bat. He stood almost seven feet from the ground, his breath hot and heavy, and his eyes yellow. He paced the mount back and forth. In the space of seconds, two giant gargoyles landed on the mountain. They both were changed into Beelzebub and Balthazar. They bowed their faces to the ground before him. 'Sire, oh great and powerful lord of darkness, what troubles thee, that has aroused this part of you, that has not surfaced for decades,' Beelzebub spoke with a deep and croaky voice. They both slowly stood upright as soldiers awaiting their commands.

'Tell me again, Beelzebub,why I shouldn't kill that little priest?' asked Lucifer.'I am at my wit's end.' The sun was gradually fading out, as the darkness slowly covered the mountain.

'Sire, you have worked so hard these past decades, and now that you are so close to set us free, I do not think that killing him is even an option,' Beelzebub replied. 'Killing him would be too kind for what he deserves. For when this is all over, I would explore the art of torture and mutilation of the human body. I would take my time in making him beg for death, yet I will not grant it.' His words created the picture of Seth, boiling in his pool of blood, while his screams are drowned in the modulating laughter of Lucifer's excitement. His imagination was interrupted by the heavy voice of Balthazar. 'Sire, oh great and most feared lord of darkness, you still haven't spoken of what bothers your heart and if there is anything that we could do to help.' He spoke with his head bowed low.

Lucifer walked to the edge of the cliff and walked back after brief thought. 'The boy needs to see my words come to pass, lest he takes me for a liar, and everyone knows that I sometimes tell the truth. When I need to, such as a time as this. We knew it would come, lord of the flies. Make this night a sea of blood.' He walked off the cliff and flew into the air.

***************************************************

That night was the most peaceful rest Seth had had in a very long while. It was void of nightmares and filled with flowers, colourful butterflies, and birds chirping at the dawn of spring. He sat on a canoe on the shore of a beautiful lake, surrounded by beautiful bungalows with white picket fences and small gardens. They were all painted in similar colours, and there were children playing in the park. He moved in a blink up an almond tree right in the middle of the park. He couldn't explain the speed and agility in which he moved. Why should he bother when he knew it was just a dream? Everything was perfect, and nothing was out of place. In his thought, he was sure that the end of the world was not near, not in his lifetime. The morning came in slowly, with the beautiful singing of the mockingbirds, and when he woke up, he had a strong feeling that everything would be all right. Seth had grown to develop an addiction to coffee. He made sure that his start-up potion was a hot cup, so there was always a pot sitting on the stove.

That morning was no different. He went to the kitchen to have a hot cup. While he poured it, he turned on the television. Lo and behold, every channel was carrying one disaster or another. He flipped the channel, and CNN broke the attack on Russia by the United States of America and the nuclear retaliation that was anticipated.

BBC spoke of the tsunamis hitting the coast of China and Japan. There was already a war in Africa and earthquakes in Germany. Seth broke down. 'It has begun; the world is coming to an end.' He held his mouth not to cry out and began to rack his head. He realized that he had an option, so he called out quietly, 'Lucifer, Lucifer …' The guardian appeared. 'I am here. I'm always here,' he said.

'It has started; it's already happening,' Seth spoke in a whisper.

'I know,' he replied, with his hand placed over the other.

'Okay, so what are we going to do?' Seth got up from the stool and walked to the sink he leaned on.

'You know what to do,' Lucifer replied. Seth stooped down, leaning his back on the door of the cupboard, with both palms rested on his forehead. He was quiet for a while, and Lucifer stood there in his usual manner, observing and anticipating what his next move would be.

'Is there no other way out of this mess, like we could warn them of what we know, that would help things right?' Seth asked Lucifer, dropping his hand with teary eyes.

'Good luck trying to convince the leaders that the world is coming to an end. I'm sure they would be dying to hear you tell them how Lucifer appears to you. And I told you that the world is coming to an end, and now it has begun … touché!' Lucifer responded, walking towards him.

'What if you make them see you as I do? I'm sure they would believe you,' Seth replied.

Lucifer stooped to his level and held him by both arms. He looked directly into Seth's eyes. 'Then what? They would decide to bury their hatchets and sheath their swords? What about the forces of nature? Would you tell them the same? Besides, men cannot see me. Their hearts are blinded by sin.'

Seth cried for a while, sitting on the floor, and then finally came to a decision. 'I am ready now. I want to do it, so tell me how to go about it.' Lucifer shifted closer to him, with two fingers grabbing his chin.

'Are you sure you are ready to go all the way?' he asked him again and again. Seth reassured him.

'Okay, I want you to go right away to Mount Dumera,' said Lucifer. 'That's way out of town and deep into the woods.' Seth asked about the location. Lucifer explained and said, 'You must go now if you want to get there before nightfall.' Seth looked both sides, and he finally cleared his confused mind and dashed into the room to change. After he was done, he got into a sedan and drove off.

Lucifer stayed at the window, watching him with an evil grin on his face as he went. 'There goes nothing,' he remarked as he faded away.

Hours later, Seth was at the edge of the road and could see the mountain at a distance away.He got out of the car with a little knapsack on his back. In it were water and a couple of sandwiches. He hiked through the woods for another hour before coming to the foot of the mount.

Seth began heading up the mountain in serious fear. 'I hate heights, but here I am, climbing up an almost eighty-foot-tall mountain.' The sun was already very hot, and the mountain was already heated up. 'Why couldn't I be like any other person? Be normal. No, normal is not cool, so I have a great destiny ahead of me. Why not go out and save the world?'

He had been climbing for almost fifteen minutes and decided to look down for a bit. Don't look down, Seth. It's not a good idea to look down when climbing. Whoa … He held tighter to the edge where his grip was. 'You could have chosen a plain, a normal ground to save the world,' he screamed out as though Lucifer was in the neighbouring mountain. But his voice went out flying without wings, in the open air.

It took him almost an hour and a half to get to the peak of the mount, and as he was about to climb up, a hand reached out to him. Then he looked up to see if his guess was correct, and indeed, it was Lucifer waiting for him. 'You made it. I must never underestimate you again.' He pulled him up the peak.

'You could have helped me at the bottom of the mountain rather than coming to give me a hand up here.'

'What you just did was part of the ritual that requires you to make sacrifices for the task without being aided,' he said to Seth, who was worn out. Seth lay on his back to catch his breath while his companion sat next to him.

'What other sacrifice is left for me to do?' he asked.

'Like what?' Lucifer replied.

'Like me dying or something?'

He responded, 'Of course not, you've already done that.' He said it nonchalantly.

Seth sat up and weirdly looked at him. 'You are joking,' he said.

'No, I'm not. When you died, that was when I knew that you are truly the one.' Lucifer took the time to explain it to him and give him some clarity.

Lucifer brought out the pages and handed them over to him. But he asked that he should be allowed to catch his breath. Seth brought out the bottle of water and downed it, pouring what was left on his head. When he was well-rested, he took the pages and arranged them in a single file on the ground.

He began rummaging through the worn pages. The pages firmed on the ground, and the words on them became more legible, but he couldn't read it because it was written in a language that Lucifer regarded as the forgotten tongue. He mumbled the strange writings on the pages fluently as he had understood it all his life.

Lucifer then came to him and said, 'Whatever happens in the course of your reading, don't stop, you must not stop reading, okay?' Then he moved a couple of meters from him.

Seth took a deep breath, raised his eyes to look at Lucifer, who gave him a slight nod and said, 'Whatever happens, I'm with you till the end.' As he read the pages, the storm started hitting the mountain and it shook.The sea rose, and the cloud turned dark, but he didn't stop, as the world was out of order. Immediately, the pages began to glow, as though there were lights in the compositions. Accidents and chaos took over every city and town; buildings collapsing with people in them and cities burning. Every volcanic mountain erupted around the world, causing devastating disasters. But Seth was unaware of the consequences of his actions.

Seth kept reading. When he got to the fifth page, his hair was in the wind as he turned to Lucifer, who urged him to keep reading. 'Don't stop; keep going!' he screamed out to Seth. The wind was so loud that they could barely hear each other. He continued reading until he finished it, and when he did, there was a solemn stillness for a juncture, as though someone had pushed the pause button.

They both wavered and looked around to see if anything out of the ordinary would happen, but nothing did for the first couple of minutes. It seemed like twenty years of waiting, and Seth had to ask. 'Did it work?' Lucifer, who was more confused and frustrated than the young priest, said, 'I don't know.'

"Or maybe we did something wrong, or the sequence was wrong?' Seth wondered. A lot of thoughts surged through Lucifer's mind about Seth sinning while he was away from him.

'I hope you hadn't committed …' Suddenly, things began to happen.

The shackles on Lucifer's wrist appeared and began to glow in red heat, like hot charcoal. Seth moved away from him in shock. 'Is this supposed to happen?'he asked.

With a great deafening blast, the chains shattered to a thousand pieces, and the pages disappeared. A great smile enveloped his countenance, even as he levitated slowly, as though he were being pulled with a line. And when he was about thirty feet off the mountain, he began to change form.It seemed like an involuntary process because it was painful. He turned into a mighty werewolf of about ten feet tall, with an enormous and frightening appearance. It screamed as though he was caught in a trap. He changed into a gigantic serpent of over a hundred feet in length and three feet in diameter. Legs grew out of the serpent, and it became a dragon, with horns and wings. The creature blew a mighty blast of flame straight into the sky, as it flapped its mighty wings, creating a wind blast that knocked Seth to the ground. Finally, he turned into a man, with a very evil and vicious appearance, and gave out endless wicked laughter.

Seth realized that he had made a grave mistake, but it was too late. He looked around for the pages, but they had disappeared from where he dropped them. He stepped back, and Lucifer was more than thirty feet above the ground. Traces of the beauty he had once admired just barely clung to the facial features of the monstrous arc-fiend that now stood before him with so evil a grin and eyes that burned in their dark sockets.

"Now I will ascend and set up my throne above your stars," Lucifer thundered. "I'll sit on the mountain far away in the north where the gods assemble. I'll go above the top of the clouds. I'll be like the Highest. Come, mighty fiends, let's rain hell on heaven's shores." He turned to find Seth, but his little stooge had fled. He came calling for him, as he hiked down the mountain in search of him. His wings came out as he flew around the mountainside, calling him cheerfully.

He had too much to do than worry about the little birdie that got away.

Lucifer floated about fifty feet in the air, stretching out his hand, and a mighty storm began to rage. All the demons from hell began to appear like cloven tongues of fire in the size of men. All around the world, they were seen by men in mid-air, and their numbers were countless. There were different categories of demons: They were the fallen, who came down with Lucifer when he was cast from heaven. There were also the descendants. These were seeds of the fallen. Some were elementals, while others were deities. Then there were the converts. These were men and women who had sold their souls to the devil and those who were accepted to become demons to escape the torture of hell. There were also the spawns of hell, such as scroomies, kackes, vampires, werewolves, and others. It was only the fallen that arose.

Lucifer began to scream at the top of his voice:

'I will destroy the world of men that you love so much and wipe out all men from the face of the earth. I will bring forth my children who will love and fear me!' When he said that, like a lightning bolt, he and the demons launched into the heavens. There was a mighty blast of light in the cloud, as though ten nuclear bombs were detonated. The earth began to burn, the sea rose, the earth quaked, and nations fell to the destruction wrought upon the face of the earth. Every television channel and radio outlet carried the news of the apocalypse, from Tokyo to New York, Lagos to Mumbai, and China to London. There was mass panic. The death toll was countless, as nations collapsed and governments crashed. Borders no longer existed, for this literally was the end of mankind. Seth ran farther into the forest instead of running out. Then he came to the top of a hill where he watched the sky burn in flames.

'It is happening. It has begun as it is written in the Bible,' Seth shouted.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord coming, Acts 2:20.

'The apocalypse is upon us. Woe unto the inhabitants of the earth, for the hand of man, has brought destruction upon the earth, my hands.' He fell to the dust in the trauma of his grief. Weeping and rolling on the dirt, he heard a sound that wasn't familiar to him, for it was neither man nor beast. So, he got up and continued running into the night.