Genesis [malexmale]

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

The years that followed weren't as simple and smooth as I had hoped.

Upon my return from Duat, Lillian gave birth to her son, Akin. In her native tongue, it meant "angel of light". How strangely appropriate, given the things I'd seen in my visions from the Source. Unfortunately, Lillian's time with Lucifer was cut short. When she returned to Lucifer's side, he'd begun to feed regularly once more and her body had weakened severely since Akin's birth. Her death would quickly approach like Delilah's had. To save herself, and her son, Lillian left the palace... and took Akin with her, leaving Lucifer to once more fall to pieces.

I understood why Lillian had done what she did. She was protecting her son and she didn't want Akin to be without a mother, as she had been growing up. Though every instinct in my being screamed at me to keep Akin here where I was certain he belonged, the Source thought otherwise and I felt it. So Akin was taken away.

Meanwhile, Hell had officially been deemed one of the realms, owned and ruled by Lucifer himself. During the first years of his reign, he formed treaties with not only Duat and Mictlan, but also Heaven, the very place that had rejected Lucifer in the first place. The idea had come as a shock to many, even the archangels themselves that had come on behalf of their God. The archangels, Michael and Bethany, came forth with negotiations to form a deal in which Lucifer would accept damned souls and souls rejected from Heaven.

Of course, Lucifer only agreed if the idea of a purgatory was put into a place. A realm in which souls would be given one final chance to determine their worthiness to enter hell, or simply walk purgatory until their redemption was found and they could become a citizen of Hell.

At the time this was implemented, Lucifer had four children; Jaques, Thorn, Bali, and Wednesday. He'd chosen his son, Thorn, to take control of purgatory. He was rather young at the time, but quiet and well-mannered, and certainly understanding of a soul's plight. His mother had been a servant within the palace, before perishing after Lucifer's fourth feeding. Bali and Wednesday's mother was, but a mere mortal who'd called out to him for help in vengeance, and a pact was made between the two, thus resulting in the twins.

After the archangels departed from Hell, and the realm fell into a strange peace for several years, something rocked the universe at that point. I could feel the sharp pains in my chest, the headaches, the visions the Source threw at me to reveal to me what the universe was doing to cause such unbalance.

The Greeks. They were once more warring amongst themselves, but it had taken a devastating turn, resulting in the deaths of gods and mortals alike.

Worse still, the archangel Bethany returned to Hell with an unnamed infant. With eyes flaring with hatred and venom dripping from her lips, she'd thrust the child at Lucifer, spat upon his shoes, and vanished from sight. Lucifer immediately took the babe, the babe he had conceived with Bethany in a moment of weakness, and he named the child Raven, for his hair was as dark as the night upon which Bethany appeared.

And for a century or so longer, the war between the Greeks raged and shook the universe, threw the balance into disarray, infuriated the Source to where it took no mercy in throwing visions about my skull like a thousand fireworks.

I dreamt of the god Hades from that vision so long ago, but he'd become older. There was a cold sternness to him, until he was faced with his siblings, his features softened and his heart warmed at their presence, and now joining them was... someone new.

I could not see their features at the time. The Source refused to give me the face of the final sibling, but I'd heard rumors that his name was Zeus, and the name abruptly woke me with laughter at a name so old, I'd nearly forgotten it. A god named Zeus? Certainly befitting.