Divine Rebellion

Chapter 1 - The Begining

   There he was; my best friend, Louie. He was crouched over a small table scribbling on some paper. I assumed it was all of his complaints about our boss' new creation. Humans. Louie wasn't quite fond of the idea of them, and if I'm being honest, I had to agree with him.
   "They're designed in my image." Our boss said to us. His image. Yeah right. These humans were prone to temptation, something that had been described to us as sin. Our boss was nothing like these new mortals, and yet he kept insisting that they were similar to him. Louie didn't buy into it. In fact, he was pretty vocal about it.
   "Sir, these mortals are indecent monsters! I refuse to protect them. They are undeserving." I remembered Louie throwing his hands on the long table in the boss' discussion room. His long-pointed ears were pushed back from anger. All four of his eyes were locked on our boss. I would never forget the way he bared his teeth as if he was trying to show a form of dominance over the boss.
   "Lucifer! You can and you will protect my creations! You will serve them the way you serve me!" The boss' voice shook the windows and echoed in the room. Nobody said a word after that. Most of the others thought Louie would conform and help protect the humans. Most of the others didn't know Louie the way I did.
   You can do it, River, I tell myself. Just tell him the boss wants to see him. That's it. That's all that was asked of you. I took a deep breath as I made my way towards my best friend. I tried to refrain myself from gathering my robes, as he knew that was something I did when I was nervous or hiding something from him. He knew everything about me, and I him. We had been friends since our creation. The closer I got to his table, the louder my heart pounded. I gulped and tried to smile.
   "Hey River! Have a seat." Louie smiled at me and motioned for me to sit next to him. He smiled warmly. His ears shot up in excitement at the sight of me. I nodded and quickly sat. "I'm writing my grievances with this new creation. How should we be expected to worship, serve, or protect these mortals the same way we do our boss? These mortals are sinful!"
   "Louie-"
   "They have no regard for compassion. I've been studying the blueprints for them since the meeting last month! I know we weren't supposed to view them anymore, but River I couldn't help myself! The blueprints show the exact plan for creation. It mentions appearances, desires, intentions, everything you could think of. Look." He pulled out a blue scroll bound with gold rope from his robes. He actually stole these. "It shows everything. I've been studying these and I simply cannot understand the purpose of these beings. But one thing really bothers me about them: I can't find any resemblance to the boss. He kept saying they would be as divine as He is. Made in his image." Louie scoffed at that last remark and continued to stare at the open scroll. I was sure he knew the plans from memory by now. The boss is already furious at him for going against His will, but if He finds out about this, everything would change.
   "Louie, I-"
   "I simply refuse to accept these creatures. They're absolutely disgusting. How dare their flesh even be graced by pure perfection." He quickly rolled the scroll back up and returned it to his robes. Only his paper of grievances laid on the table.
   "Louie, I need to talk to you." I tried to avoid eye contact. Staring at his paper, I waited for his response.
   "Yeah of course! Anything. What's going on?"
   "It's this, Louie." I gestured towards the paper. "You can't be spewing this stuff around. Something bad will happen."
   "River, what are you talking about?"
   "What if the boss finds out you're trying to ruin his creation? Then what? Huh? You won't be able to stay here. Nobody has ever gone against him before. Do you really want to be the first?"
   "I'm going to try and talk some sense into him." He leaned close into me. I quickly looked around the courtyard to make sure we were alone. Stone tables were empty, the vines draping from the walls were free of any bug, and the open hallways were empty. Louie and I were completely and unusually alone in the courtyard.
   "Listen. I agree with you about all of this, but you don't see me doing anything. Why can't you just play along?" We locked eyes. His light green eyes began to turn yellow as all the familiarity that he once had when he looked at me vanished. I knew mine were revealing the true reason I came to see him today. I prayed he wouldn't notice.
   "He sent you to bring me to him, didn't he?" He sighed as he leaned back.
   "How did you know?"
   "Your robes are wrinkled." He responded almost instantly. He knew the whole time and was waiting for me to come clean. And with that he stood up. His white robes draped behind him as he left the courtyard.
    My heart turned into a void in my chest. I just sent my best friend to his death sentence. You chose not to stand by him, my thoughts began racing. The boss offered you a new position and you jumped at the opportunity. You just couldn't bare to be a rank below Gabriel and Michael anymore. It's your own fault Louie has to suffer. You're just like those disgusting humans. I tried to silence my thoughts as I ran after Louie. He shouldn't have to do this alone.
   "Louie!" I called after him, my robes flowing behind me and my steps echoing with my voice through the marble hallway. I ran past Michael, pushing his call of "Was the promotion worth it?"  aside as I rushed towards the office. Deep in my heart I knew there was nothing I could do once I got there, but I kept running after him and calling his name.
   "Good work, River." I heard a loud voice behind me. I froze. I'm too late.
   "Sir?" I turned around hesitantly to see the boss standing behind me. "Where's Louie?" My voice was quiet. I felt so small standing beside the boss. He towered over me as he looked down at me. It was difficult to read his expression. He seemed, rather proud of me. If only I could be proud of myself.
   "Gabriel is taking care of Lucifer. May his actions serve as an example for all of you." His eyes locked on mine with that last statement. As if on cue, Gabriel walked past us in the marble hallway with my best friend restrained as he guided him to-no that can't be right!
   "The gates, River." The boss answered my unasked question and walked away.
No! I followed them down the hall and to the pristine gates. Nobody has ever walked on the other side before. "Louie!" I called one last time.
   "Be sure to come by my office when you're finished, River. Your promotion means you receive multiple heads." The boss' voice was lost as I focused on Louie.
   "I trusted you, River!" He yelled at me, trying to be free of Gabriel's grip. "You were my best friend. I trusted you! And you did this to me! All for what? A promotion? You just had to go and get your very own goat head attached to the side of yours." Tears were falling down his face as he flailed. Gabriel only tightened his grip until Louie accepted his defeat. "I only hope that one day I'll see you again." His head hung low. His voice echoed and rang in my ears. I couldn't even bring myself to say goodbye.
   After all these years, I was the downfall of Lucifer. Those were his last words to me. Gabriel opened the gates. He shoved Lucifer out and I stared as he fell.
   He was gone.