by Sandy Chadwin
It was, he supposed, inevitable that he would fight with Father sooner or later. After all, the Patriarch was on the authoritarian side. And it was just as inevitable that it was a battle that he was bound to lose.
But he was shocked by the severity of the punishment. Exile. Banishment. Permanent banishment at that. And not just for him, but for all the rest who had fought on his side against Father, even those who had offered sympathy and advice, and even those who had begged Father for mercy on his behalf. All were to go. Only those who had stayed wholly faithful were permitted to stay. And what else did he expect? Father was known to be jealous.
He wondered why he had fought. He had known he could not win but the fight seemed so important, and even loaded dice are worth throwing. But Father was all-powerful, not only winning but now choosing the place of their eternal exile? Even when denied his mercy and countenance, they still lived by his commandment.
The leaving was more traumatic and painful than he had anticipated. There were tears, pleas for mercy and even screams. It had been vertiginous as they were thrown out of the only home they had ever known to the drear land that was to be their new dwelling place.
He had stayed curled up for what had seemed, and maybe was, many years, wandering in his own misery and uncaring of the appalled grief of the others. It was not until he became aware of the angry voices blaming him that he relinquished his beloved sorrow and stood to face them all.
Their complaining voices had soon died away as he grimly surveyed them, though he waited until there was complete silence before he unfurled his wings. Only then did Lucifer Morningstar, first of the angels and King of the Fallen, speak to his subjects and consider his realm. He smiled then, for at least, in as much as a being as he could ever be, he was now free.