Post by Samccaleb on May 26, 2006 2:37:20 GMT -6
This story was written today while I was extremely bored at work. I dont know if you guys will like it. I will say that it has some religious context but I'm not quoting scripture or stating my belief system. This is not meant to offend anyone. It is a work of pure fiction naturally. Anyway, tell me what you think of the idea (yes its a finished story).
Phoenix
My name is not spoken aloud. Its very utterance has caused insanity in its wake. I am a demon from the darkest depths of hell and yet I was not always such. I once sat at the feet of the Almighty ones. You scoff now, but I have seen them in all their glory, the One God, Buddha, Zeus, countless others. They all exist in a state of perfect harmony. I like all angels, served the One God. Yes I was an angel once upon a cloud. What have I told you about laughing? You clearly don’t know how a demon becomes a demon, so I will educate you. Honestly, I would think a man of the cloth would get the obvious. A demon is, simply put, a fallen angel.
I know what you’re going to ask ‘How did I fall and why am I telling you all of this’? Don’t look so shocked you humans are very predictable. I am telling you because someone must know my story and I will need your help. As to how I fell, I was Lucifer’s best friend. I turned my back on my God for my best friend. Gabriel, my other best friend tried to convince me that Lucifer wasn’t worthy of my devotion and that I didn’t deserve the wrath of God. I ignored my friend and I fell at the parting of Heaven.
Why did I choose one friend over the other you ask? Love. It’s that simple. Lucifer promised me the freedom to love as I chose, something God would never grant his angels. We were meant to serve him and not ourselves. Lucifer didn’t realize in his search for ultimate power that I would love someone else. He truly thought it was himself that I wanted most.
I ended up losing my love and best friends because of my choice. When Lucifer found out that I was in love with Gabriel, he cursed my name and banished me to the depths of hell. I have lived there in agony for millennia, never able to clear my self or be among others. Everyone knows my name, they know my face and the very thought of me strikes fear into the hearts of the lowest, evilest beings in hell. I am the ultimate consequence. Everyday I pray for forgiveness, but I believe that God no longer hears my pleas because I put myself before him. I was selfish and I lost everything that I loved most.
I do not expect to ever regain my former position or even see the paradise of Heaven again. The only thing that I aspire to is to be reborn in human form, or even as the lowest living thing on earth and be reincarnated through the Karmic Cycle. This brings me to why I am here. You, human are devout in your faith, as you should be as a priest. The Commandments say that you should not kill, but I ask that you take my life. For this day only can I be killed and my soul released. I am mortal for these few hours on the day of my creation.
Do not nod your head in acceptance priest because I will not have you damned with me! When you kill me, you must say my name so that all of Heaven and hell may hear that my soul has been sent back to the vastness to be reborn.
Don’t agree yet! Have you not heard a word I have said? The very utterance of my name causes insanity. You must give me a new name and baptize me in Holy Water that will burn my skin like acid. My baptism will be my death. You will see my flesh eaten away before you very eyes. Can you live with yourself knowing you took a life, albeit a demon? Can you? You will be sacrificing your purity for my soul. Can you do it? Think about it and pray to God for guidance. I will return at sunset.
The demon entered the priest’s home with the dying of the sun. When she had appeared that morning, the sun a halo behind her, he had thought her an angel. Now she looked to be every bit the demon that she was, and yet, he knew that she posed him no threat. She was still part angel deep down inside. He could see it in her soft white-blonde hair, stained red by the setting of the sun, and in the depths of her gray eyes, behind the shadows of guilt.
“Have you decided, priest?” She asked softly.
“Yes, I will do as you ask. I may doubt myself as some point but I will follow through because my soul would be in greater torment if I say no.” He answered, equally quiet.
“Thank you priest. You will never know the depth of my gratitude.”
“Come with me to the church.” The demon nodded and followed the young man out the door. Upon reaching the door to the church, she hesitated. The priest entered and turned around when she didn’t follow.
“Is something wrong?” He asked.
“You must invite me into the church. I cannot enter a house of God without invitation.” She stated calmly.
“Please come in.” She nodded and stepped past the threshold. The pain that racked her body was intense and though expected, it was surprising. She doubled over for a moment with a gasp. Once again the priest turned to her.
“What is it?”
“I am in a house of God. I am evil and I am in a place that evil doesn’t belong. Do not worry the pain will ease soon.” The priest looked skeptical for a moment, but walked on, the demon trailing him slowly. When they reached the altar, the pain doubled, dropping her to her knees.
“We must hurry. Hand me a piece of paper and a pen.” She scribbled something on it. “When you baptize me, you must call out to the gods and say, ‘This is the demon …baptized with the name…, her soul washed clean and ready for rebirth.’ Can you do it?”
“Yes. Do you wish to know you new name?”
“I will hear it soon enough. I trust you priest.”
“My name is Connor.”
“I trust you Connor. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” He helped her up and into the water, which immediately began to bubble. She gritted her teeth against the pain and nodded to the priest to go ahead. He shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Gods above and those below, this is the demon Sorariel, baptized with the untainted name of Phoenix, her soul washed clean, and ready for rebirth.” With that he dunked her whole body under. The water bubbled and he made to bring her back up but there was nothing there to raise.
A heavenly light shone down on him and two angels appeared. One was the archangel Gabriel and the other was Phoenix. Both were clothed in robes so white they seemed part of the light around them. Connor stood speechless and in the stunned silence Phoenix kissed him chastely on the cheek.
“Thank you my friend for returning our lost soul to us. You were her herald and her releaser. Though it will never be complete again, you have helped to heal Heaven in a small way. We believe others may follow her example. If so, may we send them to you.” Gabriel asked in his deep baritone, deliberately kept soft so as not to shake the foundations of the church.
“Yes, that I can help close the wound between Heaven and hell is a great reward for the work I would do.” Connor answered immediately.
“To pay my debt to you, Priest…Connor, I have volunteered to be your guardian until such time as for you to join us in Heaven, then I will bring you to paradise. Beware those demons you encounter. Not all will be sincere. Some will be Lucifer’s minions sent by him to subvert your work. In times of need simply call my name and I will be there for you.”
“Do I call you by your original name Sora…”
“No! That name is dead, never to be spoken again. I am Phoenix now and for all eternity.
“Thank you Phoenix. I will endeavor to do my very best.” Connor bowed before them and when he rose, both angels were gone leaving only a pair of silver feathers to mark that they had ever been there.
Phoenix
My name is not spoken aloud. Its very utterance has caused insanity in its wake. I am a demon from the darkest depths of hell and yet I was not always such. I once sat at the feet of the Almighty ones. You scoff now, but I have seen them in all their glory, the One God, Buddha, Zeus, countless others. They all exist in a state of perfect harmony. I like all angels, served the One God. Yes I was an angel once upon a cloud. What have I told you about laughing? You clearly don’t know how a demon becomes a demon, so I will educate you. Honestly, I would think a man of the cloth would get the obvious. A demon is, simply put, a fallen angel.
I know what you’re going to ask ‘How did I fall and why am I telling you all of this’? Don’t look so shocked you humans are very predictable. I am telling you because someone must know my story and I will need your help. As to how I fell, I was Lucifer’s best friend. I turned my back on my God for my best friend. Gabriel, my other best friend tried to convince me that Lucifer wasn’t worthy of my devotion and that I didn’t deserve the wrath of God. I ignored my friend and I fell at the parting of Heaven.
Why did I choose one friend over the other you ask? Love. It’s that simple. Lucifer promised me the freedom to love as I chose, something God would never grant his angels. We were meant to serve him and not ourselves. Lucifer didn’t realize in his search for ultimate power that I would love someone else. He truly thought it was himself that I wanted most.
I ended up losing my love and best friends because of my choice. When Lucifer found out that I was in love with Gabriel, he cursed my name and banished me to the depths of hell. I have lived there in agony for millennia, never able to clear my self or be among others. Everyone knows my name, they know my face and the very thought of me strikes fear into the hearts of the lowest, evilest beings in hell. I am the ultimate consequence. Everyday I pray for forgiveness, but I believe that God no longer hears my pleas because I put myself before him. I was selfish and I lost everything that I loved most.
I do not expect to ever regain my former position or even see the paradise of Heaven again. The only thing that I aspire to is to be reborn in human form, or even as the lowest living thing on earth and be reincarnated through the Karmic Cycle. This brings me to why I am here. You, human are devout in your faith, as you should be as a priest. The Commandments say that you should not kill, but I ask that you take my life. For this day only can I be killed and my soul released. I am mortal for these few hours on the day of my creation.
Do not nod your head in acceptance priest because I will not have you damned with me! When you kill me, you must say my name so that all of Heaven and hell may hear that my soul has been sent back to the vastness to be reborn.
Don’t agree yet! Have you not heard a word I have said? The very utterance of my name causes insanity. You must give me a new name and baptize me in Holy Water that will burn my skin like acid. My baptism will be my death. You will see my flesh eaten away before you very eyes. Can you live with yourself knowing you took a life, albeit a demon? Can you? You will be sacrificing your purity for my soul. Can you do it? Think about it and pray to God for guidance. I will return at sunset.
The demon entered the priest’s home with the dying of the sun. When she had appeared that morning, the sun a halo behind her, he had thought her an angel. Now she looked to be every bit the demon that she was, and yet, he knew that she posed him no threat. She was still part angel deep down inside. He could see it in her soft white-blonde hair, stained red by the setting of the sun, and in the depths of her gray eyes, behind the shadows of guilt.
“Have you decided, priest?” She asked softly.
“Yes, I will do as you ask. I may doubt myself as some point but I will follow through because my soul would be in greater torment if I say no.” He answered, equally quiet.
“Thank you priest. You will never know the depth of my gratitude.”
“Come with me to the church.” The demon nodded and followed the young man out the door. Upon reaching the door to the church, she hesitated. The priest entered and turned around when she didn’t follow.
“Is something wrong?” He asked.
“You must invite me into the church. I cannot enter a house of God without invitation.” She stated calmly.
“Please come in.” She nodded and stepped past the threshold. The pain that racked her body was intense and though expected, it was surprising. She doubled over for a moment with a gasp. Once again the priest turned to her.
“What is it?”
“I am in a house of God. I am evil and I am in a place that evil doesn’t belong. Do not worry the pain will ease soon.” The priest looked skeptical for a moment, but walked on, the demon trailing him slowly. When they reached the altar, the pain doubled, dropping her to her knees.
“We must hurry. Hand me a piece of paper and a pen.” She scribbled something on it. “When you baptize me, you must call out to the gods and say, ‘This is the demon …baptized with the name…, her soul washed clean and ready for rebirth.’ Can you do it?”
“Yes. Do you wish to know you new name?”
“I will hear it soon enough. I trust you priest.”
“My name is Connor.”
“I trust you Connor. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” He helped her up and into the water, which immediately began to bubble. She gritted her teeth against the pain and nodded to the priest to go ahead. He shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Gods above and those below, this is the demon Sorariel, baptized with the untainted name of Phoenix, her soul washed clean, and ready for rebirth.” With that he dunked her whole body under. The water bubbled and he made to bring her back up but there was nothing there to raise.
A heavenly light shone down on him and two angels appeared. One was the archangel Gabriel and the other was Phoenix. Both were clothed in robes so white they seemed part of the light around them. Connor stood speechless and in the stunned silence Phoenix kissed him chastely on the cheek.
“Thank you my friend for returning our lost soul to us. You were her herald and her releaser. Though it will never be complete again, you have helped to heal Heaven in a small way. We believe others may follow her example. If so, may we send them to you.” Gabriel asked in his deep baritone, deliberately kept soft so as not to shake the foundations of the church.
“Yes, that I can help close the wound between Heaven and hell is a great reward for the work I would do.” Connor answered immediately.
“To pay my debt to you, Priest…Connor, I have volunteered to be your guardian until such time as for you to join us in Heaven, then I will bring you to paradise. Beware those demons you encounter. Not all will be sincere. Some will be Lucifer’s minions sent by him to subvert your work. In times of need simply call my name and I will be there for you.”
“Do I call you by your original name Sora…”
“No! That name is dead, never to be spoken again. I am Phoenix now and for all eternity.
“Thank you Phoenix. I will endeavor to do my very best.” Connor bowed before them and when he rose, both angels were gone leaving only a pair of silver feathers to mark that they had ever been there.