Introduction
In the beginning, God did not create the heavens and the earth. He created Angels, and strictly enforced three rules after designing them:
1. Follow God
2. Lead man to Heaven
3. No attachments
I broke all those rules.
You’ve been taught that I am a fallen angel who terrorizes man’s world with sin. I am personified as a rebel, who questioned biblical rules and was exiled from heaven before man’s world was created. In the Bible, I am a serpent, symbolic of chaos and deceit. In Hollywood, I am a terrorizing monster residing in flames, blocking heroes from reaching their destination. My personal favorite is when I am a provocative costume with horns and a tail, depicted as some sort of sexual muse.
I am, in fact, a fallen angel. My expulsion from heaven will always be God’s loss, as I was the most intelligent Angel (and his favorite). God adored my free spirit and inability to sit with his other angels in agreement. My cohorts questioned my behavior in social settings, and even how much power God entrusted me with. I was an easy target for God to use as a lesson to contain rebellion. Because that’s what God did: use me.
The only crime I committed in heaven was falling in love with an ordinary man. My forbidden fruit fed me endless intellectual thoughts no God could provide.
Since to you, I am still the devil, and I have not convinced you of my benevolence, let me spoil the ending in a way that has never been articulated before: I spend my entire immortal life fighting for man to question what’s been handed to them. To yearn for knowledge and power prohibited by the preachers and biblical scripture. If this is evil to you, then I have more enticing apples to plant where you have the choice to bite my fruit. After all, I did not create free will. God did that.
But this story is not about God’s reign, or how he banished me from Heaven and cast my name into an abyss of fear and humiliation. This story is about a philosopher I fell chaotically in love with, and our conversations leading up to my demise.
This is the story of my fall.
Part One: Followers
The Bible describes me as the most beautiful angel in heaven, but I was the most avoidant. And that made me beautiful to humans.
Our duty as angels was to protect and guide men into righteousness through singing the praises of the Lord. We had followers, creating an unspoken competition amongst angels: whoever had the greatest amount of followers was the most desirable. I felt the other angels were doing too much. It’s fairly easy to gain a following amongst ordinary humans—you just have to be slightly out of reach. Some days I would grace them with my songs, or my silent but comforting presence. Other days I’d disappear into the stars, or quietly sit on a cliff in solitude while the small humans yearned for my company. The angels hated me for it, gossiping amongst themselves, or informing God I was acting above my duties.
But God knew I had a different approach. He understood that I wanted to be the highlight of their week, not the reality of their day-to-day life. The other angels raged in jealousy that I could have so many humans obsessed with me while making the least amount of effort. I understood humans better than they did—covered with flaws and reckless emotions. They longed for things they couldn’t have. After all, I was born with wisdom and intelligence that will never be comprehended by such a regular mind. Give a man too much perfection, he’ll take it for granted. Become unattainable, he’ll be obsessive.
On this particular morning, I flew to the shores of the Aegean Sea to sing the hymns to my followers in that region. I was on an elevated rock, singing in a language Angels could only understand, but humans felt through their bones. Some of them looked desperate—weeping, reaching out to me, screaming my holy name with their knees buried in the sand.
Humans will die if they are ever touched by an angel. Even if they acquire painful diseases, or they want to be relieved from existing, it’s a rule we must follow. I always make sure to stand at a distance and elevate, so I am perfectly out of reach.
During my song, I eyed a man on a hill, sitting on a branch of an apple tree. He was on my level of elevation holding thick parchment paper and a pallet, less impressed with me and more on his art. His blonde hair danced with the sea while he painted, occasionally glancing in my direction. Our eyes met, and the hand that painted froze.
He jumped off his branch and walked away, as though rejecting my very presence. Something inside me went cold. I don’t think I ever finished that hymn.
~
You’ve just read 1 / 2 installments of “Lucifer In Love.” The 2nd installment will be published on March 21st (3/21).
Aahoo Pourang was born in Santa Monica and graduated with her MFA from Antioch University in fiction writing and digital journalism. She’s published multiple articles for print and digital magazines in outlets such as LA Taco, Javanan International Magazine, and has landed on multiple covers for Payam Ashena Magazine for her political pieces condemning the Islamic Regime of Iran. She’s interned at NBCUniversal for the assignment desk and at FoxSports for multiple FS1 live shows. Currently, Aahoo resides in Newport Beach and co-owns a Real Estate and Mortgage business.