You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God;

every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl.

Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.

You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.

You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.

You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you.

Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned.

So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.

Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.

So I threw you to the earth

So lamented God about the fall of the most beautiful and intelligent angel of Heaven. And Heaven, for a brief hour, mourned. Michael, brother of Lucifer raised his own lament.

“Brother! You were the morning star! You out shined us all, but you became prideful. How could delude yourself? You, who was the most learned among us! Yet vanity has overcome you. Hubris has become your counsel.”

And all the host of Heaven fell silent at this until God raised His voice: “Today, evil has entered the world of man and has briefly touched Heaven. So there shall one day be a new Heaven and a new Earth; and evil will never touch them. With evil I must withdraw some of my blessing and protection lest my presence smite man for his sins. And in the absence of my full protection, death, chaos, madness, the Leviathan shall enter into the world and slowly destroy it. But fear not. For I shall make things new once more and I shall bridge the chasm that evil has made between sinners and Heaven. Look now! Some of your fallen brothers already seek reconciliation!”

And as God said this, Mephistopheles and his followers arrived in Heaven, their heads hung low and they dared not walk into God’s presence but instead crawled up, their faces never looking up.

“Aba, father!” Mephistopheles cried out, “We have sinned. We have no excuse. We followed the lies of Lucifer even though we had the truth standing right before us. We were prideful, we were arrogant, we were envious, and we were greedy. We have no right to stand before you and our bodies reflect this. They are decaying away as we have left your grace and the life that you give to all. But we ask mercy! Forgive us Most High! Please! We beg of you!” And at this Mephistopheles and all his followers wept without restraint.

“You are right in what you have said,” God replied, “I am Justice, but I am also Love. There can be no perfect justice without mercy, but there must also be punishment for sin. Since you have confessed and humbled yourselves I will forgive you, but you still must make penance. Sin and evil has entered the world of man and with it, Death. So you shall return to Heaven, but you will be responsible for bringing the souls of men to me when death attempts to consume them. You will be the closest to Death among all other beings in Heaven and on Earth. And you will be my sword on Earth when sinners are sentenced to die by Heaven’s decree. You shall be the Angels of Death and all living things shall fear you, for where you are, death shall always follow closely behind. Now lift your faces from the ground, look at your bodies.”

Mephistopheles and his followers did as God told them. Their bodies were no longer decayed, but the light of Heaven did not emanate from them like before. Their glow was dim, almost like a shadow of it’s former self and they were humbled and lifted their heads to God in tears.

“So you have spoken it, let it be so,” all the angels of death said in unison.

“Let it be known to all in Heaven and on Earth that all the other angels who have not repented of their sins shall be known as Satan, the adversary, but especially Lucifer. He shall bear this title personally for he, who was created to care for his fellow angels, instead used them for his own personal agenda. They shall all wander the Earth that they have helped to taint restlessly with no home and they shall be made to make account for their deeds from time to time and stand before the throne.”

“As you have spoken it, let it be so,” the entire host of Heaven said in unison.

“Raphael, you shall take Lucifer’s former post as one who worked directly under him. You are now an archangel of Heaven,” God said.

“I shall do as you command,” Raphael said with reverence.

“My children, your faith and reverence are good. Many of you have no doubt wondered why Heaven has an army when there was no enemy to fight. But I say to you, before the world was made, that the fall of your brethren, the fall of man was always a possibility. The enemy of Heaven is not the Leviathan. The Leviathan is but a beast. The enemy is those who unleash it for their selfish desires. For where goodness is twisted and perverted by evil, so Death shall come to consume it, for all that is good comes from me and to separate one’s self from me is to separate one’s self from life, for I am the source of life. Therefore, let it be known that the price of evil is death.”

“Let it be known!” the host of Heaven said in unison, and all the fallen angels, though they were not present, felt echo of this shout and they knew deep in their souls what it meant. As for Adam and Eve, the forbidden fruit had given them the knowledge, but God knew He would have to descend to affirm this grim truth. And so God would dismiss the angels to their duties and descend to Earth. There He would banish Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life. For if they ate from it, they would have to live in that fallen world forever, doomed to never enter paradise or Heaven. The price of sin is death, but there are two deaths – the death of the body and the death of the soul.

God once more spoke to the angels. “The world is entering a time of darkness, but there will come a day when even death itself will die. Yes! Even the Leviathan will end. For when there is no more evil left, there will be nothing left for it to consume. So even death shall die, but life is eternal.”

“Holy! Holy! Holy! Is the Lord God Almighty! Who was, and is, and is to come!” the angels cried out in praise. Even the fall of man and of Lucifer and his angels could not quench the joy and hope of Heaven for more than a brief span of time.