The Devil's Apprentice by Patrick Stewart (polar express read aloud TXT) 📕

him if he regrets teaming up with God and betraying me,” Lucifer said.  

None of what Lucifer just said made any sense to Alex. God teaming up with Satan to defeat Lucifer? That was ridiculous. At least, according to his understanding of Christian mythology. The only thing God and Satan had worked together on was being a huge pain in the ass for humanity.

And weren’t Lucifer and Satan the same individual?

But this wasn’t the time to figure out that stuff. Satan, the actual devil, was walking towards him casually, blades extending from both arms. He looked cool, in the evil motherfucker way.

“Why resist?” Satan asked. “You wouldn’t be able to escape my wrath even with Lucifer’s help.”

It was now or never, Alex thought. “Do you regret it?” he blurted out.

Satan stopped walking. “Regret what?”

“Teaming up with God to kill Lucifer?”

“Is he still sulking about that?” Satan let out a mirthless laugh. “It had to be done,” Satan said. “The angels came first. They found the land of the living souls. They’d been here for a thousand years before we arrived. Of course we sided with angels. Why wouldn’t we? We wanted the human souls as much as they did. Lucifer stood in our way. He was the first in this world. The protector of humanity. He needed to be destroyed.”

Alex’s throat was dry, his lips parched. He swallowed uncomfortably. None of what Satan had said made any sense to Alex. Angels finding the land of the living? Lucifer being the protector of humanity? The first in this world? What about Adam and Eve?

Satan roared in laughter when Alex said as much. “The whole Adam and Eve nonsense was my idea you know,” the devil said, grinning devilishly. “It’s guilt that weighs heavily on the human soul and drags it down to hell. Religion seemed the perfect way to infect humanity with guilt. Every single one of them born of sin, it was perfect.” His grin soured. “Somehow, God managed to turn that one around too. Religious people became the fucking worst. They could rape and pillage entire towns and not feel any remorse, so convinced they became of their righteousness.”

“Hello?” Alex called out into the emptiness of his mind. 

“I’m still here and almost ready,” Lucifer said. “Just a little more, and I’ll merge with your body like I’ve never done before. We could have a genuine chance of walking away from this.” 

“Great,” Alex said. It was good news. Not dying here today would be great. “What the hell’s Satan talking about?” he muttered. 

“The beginning,” Lucifer said. “I can show you.”

“Do we have time?” 

“I’m going to share memories. They work differently to time. It will take only a second or two, but it’ll seem much longer.”

Alex felt a warmth in his brain. It felt weird. The only other feeling he’d had in that region was pain that manifested itself in a headache. The warmth gave way to bright light that faded as images followed. He was now standing in a patch of open space under a clear blue sky surrounded on all sides by lush trees.

There were humans. They were naked and lived in the trees. They drank water from the crystal-clear streams. They hunted little and lived mostly of the abundant fruits and vegetables. It was an idyllic existence. A little slice of heaven in the mould Adam and Even supposedly inhabited before their sin.

The sky above suddenly opened. The blue was penetrated by a single circle of powerful white light that shone down and hit the ground. The blinding light faded to reveal a tall creature. He had wide white wings and a golden halo above his head. He looked godly.

Alex was in awe of this creature, of this angelic being. The humans climbed down from their trees and left their frolicking in the waters to come and stare at this strange and new godly being that had come down to their world.

Time passed quickly. Alex followed the godly being as it moved around the world, as it observed the humans, as it sat with them, ate with them, even made love to the beautiful naked humans. The godly being watched with curiosity as humans passed away.

Then it happened.

The divine creature, the godly being with the beautiful white wings, a golden halo above its head and a glowing aura that lit up every dark space, it struck a woman in the chest. His hand drove deep inside her. Blood spilled. Her eyes closed as her body sagged. He withdrew his arm. Her body hit the ground. But the godly being only stared upwards.

“What have you done?” a voice asked. It was Lucifer.

“You can’t see it, but her soul is rising up. It will weave its way through the barriers between our worlds and rise up to heaven. It took me awhile to understand that their fleshy bodies are like prisons holding back their souls. We need to free them all.”

“That’s why you came here? To kill them?” Lucifer asked, the pain obvious in his voice.

“Kill them?” God repeated. He finally looked down at the woman on the ground, her body still, her chest red with blood. “They die eventually, don’t they?”

“You will not kill one more human,” Lucifer said, a warning in his distressed voice.

God stared at him. “And who will stop me? You? You are different from the rest, true, but not so different. You have a soul too.”

God reached forward with his hand of glowing light. Lucifer moved back quickly. He held his hands out by his sides. Two blades appeared. He leapt at God. The blades shattered like glass. There was not even a scratch on God. Lucifer staggered back in shock.

“It would be better if you did not resist,” God said softly. “Drop to your knees. Pledge your allegiance to me before my angels and