Chapter 11: Stealing Lucifer’s Light
The great serpent sat at the edge of the abyss, dreaming of his place in the universe as a bright and shining sun, the galaxies of Andromeda dancing with the Milky Way at his feet, with all their colored suns and planets cast upon it bowing down to his light in great reverence.
In his dream, the young woman came to him with a deck of playing cards. “Come, let us play a few hands of poker to steal the night away …”
She stared up at the reptilian face of the great serpent Uktena as if uncertain … but, making up her mind, she tugged at his long, red, fiery scales. “I’ll see your five and raise you ten?”
The serpent eyed her, feeling uncertain. For a long time, he gazed down at the small figure as stars and planets birthed and expired while the known universe swirled on between its ebony banks. Finally, he too made up his mind and replied.
“Well, my sweet slave, but what shall we play for as we deal these little cards upon the empty shells of Sheol? Shall we gamble upon the souls of eternity or simply play for pleasure?”
“If I win,” said Shirley, the fairest of maidens, “you must grant me my greatest wish: freedom. If you win, I must remain your slave forever.”
The great serpent thought for a while as vast pockets of diffused nebulous matter collapsed and aggregated upon tiny droplets of moisture and dust. A small snowshoe rabbit hopped merrily along. Spying a carrot top, it nibbled gingerly … then went for the root, falling deep into the bowels of hell, dragged down into the tempestuous torrent of raging souls.
“My darling Shirley,” said the serpent, “you are already my slave for all of eternity, until judgmental time collapses. As for your other requirement: alas, although I hold all mankind in my discriminating grip, although I discern nation’s fates, and worlds live and die by my discretion, I am not a djinn who grants magical wishes. Let’s just enjoy a few hands.”
“Oh, very well then,” said Shirley, the fairest of maidens, “but you must deal first, and I will bid on the cards that have been dealt to me.”
Now, Uktena thought this was a funny thing for the fair maiden to say, but he agreed readily enough and, kneeling down on the Altar of Lust, he dealt the cards, trying hard not to cheat.
Empires and civilizations rose and fell on a myriad of diverse worlds as Satan’s holographic doubles wielded their scythes this way and that, reaping in a harvest of a million souls. Eons and millennia passed, and a vast repository of skeletal remains piled up on either side of the galaxy, leaving only a narrow strip of level space for the two poker-faced players to pursue their cosmic card game. But finally it was over, and the fair maiden (by sleight of hand or luck?) had bested the great serpent.
“Take what you will,” he said from his towering height. She took naught—only moved to kneel before him.
“You have earned it,” Uktena urged her as he nudged her gently toward his treasure room.
With tear-filled eyes, she gazed upon him in all his majesty. She turned her head away. “I want nothing that is beyond that door.” She sighed as she bent her head and whispered softly, “I have earned … not the treasure I craved.”
“Would you take what I give?” he asked her bent head.
“If given freely, Milord Uktena,” she murmured. Wetness dotted her knees and the floor.
“What would you give?” Curiosity colored his smooth tones. He surveyed the room. “Money, jewels? Your freedom is already yours” He cocked his mighty head and raised a brow.
She merely shook her head.
“What, no parting wealth? I thought that was what all mortals desired.” He lowered his head to the floor to look more closely at her. She turned her head away, shaking her long hair down to hide her face. Intrigued, he reached out a gleaming, cloven hoof and tilted her tearstained face toward his.
“If you were giving, what would it be?”
Wet, shining eyes searched his for but a moment. A fleeting smile touched her trembling lips. “My lord … it would be my love …” she whispered tentatively.
Surprised, he barked out a laugh. “You would love me?” His voice softened in awe and disbelief. “I am naught! I am fire and armor—hard as steel, hard of heart. And you could love something, someone, as hard and cold as me? You are strong of will, spirited, joyous of life, warm, tender, soft, and vibrant … I am naught for one so full of life!”
She shook her head, hair rippling in the light. Passion flared unexpectedly in his heart. “You are the sun, the rain, the moon, and the stars,” she answered. “Joys tempered by sadness, fantasy in reality. You have taught me to appreciate the life around me. You are … worthy of love, and so much more …” Stumbling over the words, she bent her head again. Tears flowed freely as she brokenly told him, “but love is nothing if not given freely. It cannot be earned.”
He stared down at her shaggy mane of hair, wondering what it would be like to touch it—not with his cloven hoof, but with soft human hands. To revel in the touch of soft, pliant skin … with these thoughts in his mind, he reached out to her. But before he could touch her, pain exploded through his being.
A clattering startled her as scales rained about them. The sound bounced and echoed hollowly throughout the cave. Battle-hardened hands raised her from her knees. Startled, she flinched away from them. Worriedly, she searched the room with her eyes. Scales were heaped upon the floor like armor discarded in haste. A hand still supported her.
“What the hell?” queried the serpent. “You have bested me—the Destroyer is destroyed. Come, my sweet pet, and breathe your warmth upon me.”
“I will do more than that,” said the fairest of all maidens. “I will claim my rights, for it is my heart’s desire to kiss the lips of the great serpent Uktena.”
And saying this, she climbed upon the serpent’s scales and, staring into his shocked countenance, kissed the cold, steely grimness of his lips. As she did so, pale and golden flesh formed upon the serpent’s scaly face as he blushed. His scales shimmered like diamonds all over his body, and a bright red rose blossomed in his chest. No longer cold-blooded, he felt the warmth of two hearts beating.
“My heart is yours!” he said in amazement.
The Arch of Desire collapsed, and the elemental remains of all who were given over to death came crashing down into the starry flood, where they too put on radiant breath again and swam amid a joyful melee of sprites, faeries, cherubim, seraphim, angels, and other strange and wonderful creatures toward some undiscovered ocean beyond infinity. His relentless grip of judgment loosed, and the heavens rejoiced in the resurrection.
Now within Shirley’s small, cupped hands was Lucifer’s light. It quickly overtook her, mingling with her fleshy form. The history of the universe filled her. Every star, every planet, every dust particle, every single fact and process, every explosion, the history of alien civilizations in every galaxy—so infinite that applying a number to them would be pointless—filled her head. Every transaction, every move, every damn thing in the entire age of the universe—quantum jumps, quantum physics, string theories, quantum weirdness, quarks, neutrinos, free will—and sentient life could barely comprehend the amount of physical matter in the universe, never mind the details. Ninety-eight percent of the universe was, in fact, the paperwork. There was simply too much information for one singular mind to handle. Her mind convulsed and then scrambled. Agitated, it short-circuited, making her lose control of her body. Her sanity followed, but that returned in a little while. However, while her lucidity was away, something seared into her mind, her soul: his very spirit, knowledge, the great gnosis, the truth of everything. The veil was torn asunder, and the pure beauty of this truth sent her into the throes of insanity.
When the great serpent finally awakened from his dream, he found himself holding the ace of spades. Searching, he could not find his way in the dark; his light was now dimmed. But the great serpent well understood that curvature was the illusion of desire—that light would always find escap
e from confinement. He knew also that when the day arrived, Shirley would have her freedom; she had earned it, and in truth, he would now return from whence he came. After all, he was the anointed cherubim—the righteous one.
He bowed low to Shirley, freed of the burden of pointing the accusing finger and persecuting mortal man. He understood what humanity had to offer; he had gone through the circumcision of the heart. Love—unconditional love—was what the inferior human had over Lucifer.
An eternal love—
I hear their voices, feel them all:
the souls, big waves set free from earth,
the chosen ones in heaven’s call
swept in the stream of heaven’s birth.
Away from slipping, sliding sand,
away from plates on earth that fail
into the safe, protecting hand
where loved ones drift without a sail.
Sweetly dressed, now warmed and freed—
no cares, now safe in heaven’s see,
the honored guests with no more need
joining their friends and family.
Soon, time and space will be no more;
we’ll all be called to heaven’s shore
to live in love forevermore.