To live...

DISCLAIMER: This is not mine. This was written by The-FallenAngel of DotaPortal.com. I'm posting it because of its awesomeness and the intention of having more people read it.

To live...

by The-FallenAngel

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"Ughh... Where am I? What is this place?" the girl though pitifully through her nausea. The last thing she remembered was being out on the town with her boyfriend having a good time like all young couples do now days, if you know what I mean. She then began to recall seeing a flash of light and a splash of red before everything faded into darkness. “Eh, getz outa za way whore!” With her head spinning she was in no mood for such attitude but even less so for a fight as she quickly moved to the side of what appeared to be a side walk. As she was recuperating she observed her new surroundings and was rather shocked by what it had to offer. Spanning as far as the eye could see there were buildings lined up in various shapes and sizes with just as many different people, designs, and languages.

“Weird…” she commented, after all she was only use to traditional 21st century architecture from the city. Having only been raised within the city with in a devout Catholic orphanage but never having been adopted she had lead a very sheltered life. That was until she could not take it any more and ran away from there with her first boyfriend and lost themselves in the city. She could never take their oppressive rules nor could she ever conform to their proclaimed wisdom granted by God. “To hell with their stupidity, I won’t be denied my freedom!” and with that she never looked back.

Wait… why was she suddenly reminiscing on such events now of all times? “You must be new here, welcome to paradise. I am…” the person suddenly looked somewhat puzzled and contemplative “… bleh, my name is too annoying, just call me L.” “All that thought just for your name!?” the girl thought exasperated by his audacity and his obvious attempts at hitting on her. But wait… “There is no such thing as paradise in the world, where am I?” The girl questioned with obvious doubt as her nausea had just faded into just a bad memory. “Ah I see you are one of those… Well no matter, let us have a stroll and chat a bit.” Said L happily and obviously ignoring the question presented.
“Who does this fucking weirdo think he is…” thought the girl, “Who wears that gaudy full black attire in the middle of a spring day and a hood and feathered cloak to boot.” Having already taken a couple of steps down the road L then suddenly looked over his shoulder down at the girl and said “By the way everything is just a matter of perception, what is weird and what is not, what is good and what is bad, what is holy and what is not, all that you look upon is based on your perception of that thing.” A chill ran down the girl back as L’s eyes met her own while saying this. His gaze was colder than the void itself. Unable to look away and unable to deny what had been said she merely looked on in shock. “So that’s why I’m no weird! Oh and by the way I never caught your name.” Having lost all seriousness in his tone and having put on such a happily dumb expression it was hard to believe that he could make anyone frightened.

Perplexed by his sudden character changes and still stunned from the earlier one all the girl could do is respond “My name is Stella.” A smirk crept up along L’s face, “What an endearing name you have there. Now shall we have our walk?” and with that they took off. “So… Stella, are you familiar with the Bible?” She knew his look; it was the look of someone whom wanted to bestow their great wisdom upon lesser beings than themselves. “Yes, but I don’t know why you want to talk of fairy tales.” Letting out a chuckle the merry L quickly responded “Well just humor me a bit then.” grinning from ear to ear. “I would much rather you tell me where exactly I am and how I can get home.” not having forgotten that he side stepped her question earlier. “Well humor me and I will answer your questions.” L said slyly looking at her with a wide grin still. “Fine, preach away.” Stella had already resigned to take this like another Sunday school lesson.

“Hehe, thank you. *cough cough* ehem Well once there was an Angel in Heaven, one whom was greater than all other angels. His power was so great that in fact he wished to oppose God and create his own kingdom in Heaven. The great angel of the morning star then lead a rebellion against God and was thus struck down by the almighty one and banished forever to a desolate wasteland for his prison. But not contend to just idly sit by he transformed his prison to a sanctuary for all of the other angels in Heaven that rebelled against the teachings of God and a place for all humans of whom could not follow in the teachings of God and were deemed sinners.”

Coincidentally they had just passed a rather large Church with many people praying as L paused to let this sink in. “God… Everyone knows the tale of Satan… Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed to this…” With an all to knowing smile spreading across L’s face as she thought this he resumed his lecture.

“Well that is all what the bible says, who knows if what they said is the truth. There are always two sides to a coin after all one says insurrection the other says liberation. Who’s to say that this Angel merely did not agree with what God had proclaimed to be good and evil and fought believing such a things but was banished and declared evil by the higher power.”

With this the girl was taken aback. This was the very same thoughts that she had when she decided to run away. But quickly she retorted “Well that is to say if any of this was true in the first place. Christianity after all was just a collection of various different religions fused together to make it more acceptable and palatable for people in the ancient days. Even the story of Satan himself was never heard of until far later in their history. The Bible is merely a story created by man and as such has the flaws of man’s stupidity woven into it. What was deemed an act of God in the past has been shown to be nothing more than a collection of various events. As Science progresses there is little use for God in the modern day. I can sin to my heart’s content and I will never be punished by God simply because he does not exist.”

Applause from L soon followed the completion of Stella’s declaration. “Bravo, bravo; that is indeed a way to look at the world that you live in. It is rational and based on what you can quantify and measure. It is precisely how to live. Even the Seven Deadly Sins have no meaning because each has its own two sides of the coin. On the one hand Sloth is laziness and unproductive but on the other hand it is efficiency and innovative. Envy on the one hand is the emotion to desire what someone else has and to fret about what you don’t have; on the other hand it is a motivator for you to work and get what you want. Gluttony is excessive desire for food but in truth what is excessive cannot be judged on a universal scale and can only be taken on an individual basis; what is excessive for one person may not be for another. Pride one side is merely an excessive love for one’s self and on the other side it is holding one’s self to a higher value to be magnanimous to all things. On the one hand Wrath is merely rage, unnecessary destruction against a person or object, an unnecessary hate; while on the other hand it is retribution for an unjust deed that has occurred it is Justice. What is Greed but the desire for things, on the one hand it is a want for more than what you already need when you already have; on the other hand it is the desire to attain more and more, to progress further and further. And then there is Lust, the satisfaction of cranial cravings of the flesh but on the other side what is this but another aspect of Love? You may look upon someone and see him as brave and his enemies look upon him as prideful. You may look upon someone and say they are Wrathful but he will say it is Justice. You may look upon someone as Healthy but others may look upon him as Gluttonous. People may look at you and say you are Lustful but you merely look at your companion and call it Love. Who is anyone to judge you because of what God said is right and what is wrong!”

And with that last sentence what was once believe to be a feather cloak unraveled to reveal a pair of jet black wings. “Now ask me any questions that you desire and I shall answer it.” Shocked at what she had just witnessed Stella could only manage to whisper “Who are you?” With a smile he responded gently “I am the Great Angel of the Morning Star, I am the Fallen Angel of Lore, I am Lucifer.”

Revealing eyes that spoke only of sorrow and gentleness Stella was able to stay calm but only for a moment before she realized what this meant and asked with utter fear, “Ttt thhennn ttthiiiiss pppplacceeee issss…” With a deep sigh Lucifer slowly nodded “Yes indeed, this is the place considered to be the barren wasteland, the prison of the hottest flames and the coldness of the void, the place for all souls that have sinned against God. You have already died and can never return to your world. That is the truth you seek.” With that Stella could only collapse where she stood and weep over the life that she had lost, "why me, why me."

Stella cried until she could cry no more and remained curled up in silence. Then after some time without even looking up she asked with her despair ringing in her voice “So because I have sinned I am evil?” To that Lucifer could only once again nod his head, “Yes, because you have sinned you are evil, because you did not follow God you are evil, because you had decided to live you are evil.”

Stella then looked up with the silver streaks of tears still apparent on her face but with an expression of contorted rage “THEN WHY DID YOU CALL THIS PLACE A PARADISE?” To that Lucifer could only sigh and ask “Were you not listening? Everything is what you make of it, it is of your own perception what you make of it, nothing more nothing less. I rebelled against the laws set down by God because there was nothing in that stale world that some call paradise, no ambition, no desires, no love. Heaven is a place devoid of all such things you could deem as evil, it is a perfect world for all those whom reside in it and yet it is devoid of what you would call love. So I ask you, is that still a place you wish to spend eternity within? Is that still your paradise?”

Drying her eyes upon the cloth presented to her by the now kneeling Lucifer she responded. “No I would not wish to live in a place like that, a place that can be called perfect can also be called stagnant, nothing changes, absolutely nothing, because it requires absolutely no change. I wish for a world that is full of excitement, surprises, sadness happiness, hate, love, I wish for a world where I can feel alive and live.”

Lucifer could only smile his all knowing smile “You really are just as your name suggests, you burn brightly and beautifully within the nights sky. To live is to be evil hence you are a devil because you have lived. I welcome you to Hell.”