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

Cracks appeared as trees splintered and fell. Red light shone out from the cracks, as did immense heat. It reminded Lucifer of volcanoes on the verge of erupting. He should have turned and ran to safety. But he was tired of running away. So he remained seated.

The cracks grew in size. The ground gave way and a huge sinkhole appeared. Lava began to rise, and on the rising lava, Lucifer saw the shadow of a man. As the lava spilled to the top, this man simply bounced off the lava as if he were surfing a wave. He landed a few feet away from Lucifer and spun in a circle, taking in his surroundings.

He spotted Lucifer and the long sword that rested beside him. Their eyes met. The man had cold black eyes.

“You’re naked,” the newcomer said.

Lucifer noticed the man was not naked. His chest was bare, but he wore black leather trousers that clung to his skin tightly.

“Everyone else in this realm naked?” the man asked before pointing at the dead angel. “He has wings,” he observed. “Also naked and a man. Are there women in this realm? Wouldn’t mind them being naked.”

Lucifer climbed to his feet. “Who are you and where have you come from?”

The man eyed him curiously. He had dark hair that came down to his shoulders and a lean but toned body. His eyes were black, his skin was tanned, he looked like a human. But no human could come out from the ground on top of lava.

“I like this place,” the man said. He spun on the spot, then took a deep breath. “Oh, that’s nice. That is so fresh! I love it!”

“What do you love?”

“The air. It’s much nicer here. Bit hot and dusty where I come from.”

“Who are you?” Lucifer asked. His tone was firm as he walked towards the man. He held the sword by his side, ready to fight if he had to.

His change in tone did not go unnoticed. The young man’s eyes fell on the dead angel once more before flickering over Lucifer’s sword. “They call me Satan,” he said. “And usually, they don’t approach me like that.”

“Who’s they? And where are you from?”

“They’re demons. I’m from hell. Maybe your soul will pay it a visit one day,” he winked.

Lucifer felt his anger rise. “You’re here for their souls?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“You bet I am,” Satan said. “They used to come to us on a regular basis. But recently, the supply is drying up. Any reason for that?”

Lucifer knew the reason for it. God had tipped the scales in his favour. The humans were living in constant fear of death. Not many had time to accumulate enough guilt for their souls to sink rather than rise. God had come from above and now Satan camr from below. They both wanted the same thing.

Lucifer took another step towards Satan. “You’re going to kill the humans to steal their souls.”

“Firstly buddy, you really don’t want to get into a tussle with me. I’m the fucking devil,” Satan’s black eyes flashed red. “Secondly, I’m not here to kill anyone. At least not just yet,” he added with a threatening tone. “I want to know what brought about the change, then reverse it.”

An idea formed in Lucifer’s head. He didn’t trust this Satan any more than he trusted God. Both were here for the souls of the humans. He briefly wondered what they did with human souls, why both God and Satan wanted them so badly. There was little he could do about that though. Lucifer’s powers were limited to this realm. And God had limited his powers in this realm.

But here was an opportunity to change all of that, to revert things back to the way they were before God’s arrival.

“Do you have any… talents?” Lucifer asked.

“I am a man of many talents,” Satan grinned. “Ask the ladies,” he added with a cheeky grin before his face became serious. “You do have women in this realm, don’t you?”

“Can you fight?” Lucifer asked.

Satan smiled widely, showing perfect white teeth. Where his hands were, two black blades now appeared in their place. “Oh, I’m the devil. I’ve never lost a battle,” he said.

Chapter 43

 

 

 

 

Alex was back in the present. He stood amongst the rubble of Jamie’s mansion. Before him was Satan. The devil looked exactly the same. He hadn’t aged a single day. Alex held the same longsword in his hand that Lucifer had wielded many thousands of years ago. It felt heavy. His body was tired, his hands were unsteady and his head swirled. The sword fell out of his hand as Alex dropped on one knee and pressed his palms against his temples.

Alex closed his eyes. The image of Satan standing in the forest beside the sinkhole was still in his mind. He could feel Lucifer’s emotions from that time. The war with God and his angels was not going well. Lucifer had reached the end of the line. He was on the verge of giving up when Satan arrived, bringing with him hope. But it was false hope as the devil eventually betrayed him.

Whatever Lucifer had done to show him the past, it left Alex with the worst migraine ever. His head felt like it was going to crack. He felt a little sick too. And thirsty.

“Sorry about that,” Lucifer said. “It’ll pass soon.” 

Alex opened his eyes and stared at Satan. “You betrayed him, didn’t you? You were supposed to fight god together, but you stabbed him in the back.”

Satan shrugged nonchalantly. “When I made the deal with Lucifer, I had no idea how powerful God really was. See, where I came from, what you call hell, I was the top dog. I had been since the beginning of time.