Though many of you self centered humans believe that there is no world greater or worse than one you live in now, I regret to inform you that you are mistaken. There are four worlds, one of which is hidden within your own. This second world is not meant to be seen by many of your kind. This world, hidden within the world you know is known among us as Mythos. It was built long before man multiplied on earth so that other beings would have the capability of co existing with you people. It is a world identical to your own, just without the beautiful hues of colors. Within that second dimension, I am imprisoned.

No one out there can possibly hate anything as much as I hate myself at this moment. I have been torn apart from everything familiar, everything that I love all because I made a foolish mistake. Or more accurately, a series of mistakes that lead to one so great even God himself despises me. I have lost everything, even myself. I once was good and decent, even happy. But so much has changed from those blissful moments; so much has changed me that I cannot recognize the creature I have turned in to. I have become the very thing that I hated most.

Not so long ago I, Gibson, once was an angel. And although you may not see it now, I was what some would call handsome. I had large baby blue eyes, thick blonde hair that was about three inches long, full lips, sun kissed skin, and a beautiful pair of white feathered wings. I had a simple job, watching over a small legion of ten thousand. Back then, I never had a reason to be unhappy. I had the affection of God himself, had a decent amount of power, and had people looking up to me. I even had few very close friends of which I loved dearly; Asoulna, Borshac, Nahiim, and Rahiim. I still love them; even now though I am certain that love is one sided.

I remember this time of peace and joy, perhaps more than the others. I remember laughing at Rahiim’s jokes and the pranks he would pull on the other angels. I remember being enthralled in Nahiim’s elaborate stories that he would pull out of the air. I remember smiling as I heard Asoulna sing as she delivered messages throughout all of heaven as Borshac would challenge her, saying that he can finish his rounds first blindfolded. Everything was good and beautiful, and I blissfully thought things would remain like this forever.

When God formed the mass of the earth, he covered it in water and made the land rise up from beneath the surface. He breathed the first breath of life onto it, starting off as small bacteria to create oxygen for the atmosphere. He then let the angels have free reign to create the plants and animals that roam the earth, saying that he has something special in mind for when a stable ecosystem is established. Many other legions focused on the oceans, creating vast variety of vegetation and creatures. My legion focused on making plant life during that time, and I watched over them to make sure that the various species were able to coexist with each other and serve a purpose in the ecosystems. Balterac, leader of another small legion was the one who came up with the idea of creating what you people today called dinosaurs. He thought this was a brilliant idea, and had his whole legion make a complete ecosystem of these lizard like beings. But by the time the earth hit four hundred and eighty three million years old, these creatures had completely taken over its surface, which made God mad. These creatures would not make suitable companions for his special creation so God sent an asteroid to destroy all of Balterac’s creations, with the exception of one. The creature that survived from these times is the ancestor of what you call the alligator and the crocodile. Even so, Balterac went of sulking, and he lingered in the heavens for the rest of earth’s creation.

Neither Asoulna nor Borshac were able to help with the creation process, for they were to busy sending requests to and from God about the creation of earth (God didn’t want another situation like Balterac’s, so every creature made had to be personally approved or modified by God himself). This really bummed Asoulna out, for she was highly interested in watching such a great accomplishment. She felt left out, for she wasn’t even allowed to help create any part of the universe. So to cheer her up, Rahiim created the first butterfly and showed it to Asoulna the next time she visited earth. She loved the little creature, and was enthralled by its colors. She spent so much time playing with it that Borshac had to deliver both her messages and his messages, which kept him extremely busy. And though he would never say it out of fear of tainting Asoulna’s happiness, he resented having to do work for two and stopped hanging around us four a hundred and forty three years.

Around these times, things started changing in heaven. More and more angels wanted more power and more freedom. At first I didn’t pay much attention to it and just tossed it aside as people just being tired of working on the project, thinking that it’ll wear off when we complete this task. But this idea changed when Borshac came up to me one day.

“How have you been my friend?” I greeted him with a smile, hoping that’ll change the serious look on his face.

“I have been alright, just have been planning with Lokai and Tazur. We have talked things over, and have come to the conclusion that we do not deserve to be overworked like this. What really is forcing us to remain here? I see no barriers, no restraints,” Borshac said in a hushed voice, looking down at the earth.

“There are no restraints because everything we ever could want is here. We have power, purpose, love and friendship. Why would anyone want to leave?” I replied taken aback.

“For freedom to do as we please,” Borshac replied, watching my eyes, “For freedom to do whatever we want. Who says God has a right to decide what we can and can’t do in our lives?”

“My friend, watch your tongue!” I scolded, “You are questioning the authority of the very one who created us?”

“I am not just questioning it, I’m acting on it. After God makes his special creature and this project is completed, I am leaving. I don’t see any reason why I should stay beyond that,” Borshac continued.

“Why are you talking to me about this?” I asked quietly, knowing how great of a danger it is to speak like this.

“I want you to come with me. This can be a new life for the both of us, a life that will become anything that we want,” Borshac offered.

At first, I remained silent, not knowing what else to say. I know I was his last resort for companionship, for he wouldn’t have even bothered asking me if he had convinced Asoulna or Rahiim to go with him. If I don’t accept, he will be alone in his venture. Even though Borshac has a group of people he is leaving with, it takes a while for him to warm up to a new group of people and I doubt these others will have the patience.

“Why will I go if I am so happy here?” I answered sadly as Borshac stood there, stubbornly clinging to this idea that things could possibly get better than this. And even though I didn’t agree with him, I could feel his misery.

The idea of Borshac leaving affected all of us, but even so we all carried on our daily tasks, hoping that he will change his mind. But even so, Rahiim took it the hardest. He stopped laughing and even gave up on jokes. This brought us all down, for if Borshac leaving was so great it took away Rahiim’s smile than we can’t ignore that it is happening.

In an effort to make him smile, I personally created a creature that was a cross of a deer, a goat, and an elephant and sent the patent to God for approval. When I was allowed to make the creature, known to you people as the saiga antelope, Rahiim finally cracked a grin saying that he can create a creature more random than that. He then created a creature that he called “the majestic being” which is known today as a platypus. When I asked him why he decided to mix a beaver and duck, he said so that the world would always have something to laugh about. And I had to agree, for this creature was ridiculous, but it showed Rahiim’s character at its finest.

After God created Adam, the heavens rejoiced. Our work was complete after 900 million years. Everyone was relieved, and given a break. But even as I saw the perfect completion of this project, my heart was heavy. Deep down I prayed that Borshac will change his mind, that now his heart could find peace with what he has.

All of heaven appeared to watch breathlessly as God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, showing him the plant and animal life, allowing this one creature to rename everything. Some of us found delight in this new creature, a fleshy wingless version of our kind. Others stared at it jealously, like an older sibling watching its father dote over the new child. And in all honesty, I didn’t blame the jealous ones. Here we have created this grand masterpiece, yet still God loves this new being who has done nothing more.

Personally, I didn’t let it get to me. We had a couple billion years of his undivided attention, and in a way I liked not being able to take a step back and rest a little while. Sadly, most didn’t feel like this. Lucifer, the leader of the rebellion sent Borshac personally to send a letter to God, saying the names of the angels who are leaving. The number was Eight million, Six hundred and fifty five thousand, five hundred and forty six.

Even this number isn’t even an eighth of the population; the vast greatness of this rebellion affected all of us. For creatures that have spent billions of years together, even one loss would have been devastating. But with such a great myriad of creatures leaving left no angel unaffected. We all felt the loss of a leader, a friend, and or an acquaintance. And even then, no one knew how God would treat these angels.

One day, God drew his attention away from Adam, and asked for those whose names were on the list of those lists to step forward. Everyone was hushed, out of fear as to what will happen next.

“Have I not shown you kindness in creating, sharing my home with you, and giving you whatever you wanted?” God’s voice boomed all around us, with no discernible source.

“We have been nothing more than pets to you, slaves even. And what gives you the right to rule over us? Is it automatically your right because you are the one with the greatest power? Or is it your right because you gave it to yourself as creator?” Lucifer boldly stated, loud enough for all to hear.

Everyone could feel God’s pain as Lucifer's words sunk in. God could easily destroy these rebels, but that would only show his power and not prove himself as the rightful ruler of the universe. So God came up with a secret plan and a way out.

“As you wish. You can live on earth, as long as you do not show yourself to Adam. But this new idea of freedom that you wish to call your own will not come without a price. The area where you are free to do as you please is now your prison. Yes, you will be free to do what your heart desires, but you will learn the true meaning of pain,” God carefully said.

At that, many of those whose name was on the list began changing shape, taking on a new form. And this transformation was far from painless. Even now, Borshac’s screams echo in my ears as his short delicate body became sharp and rigid, his beautiful silver hair falling out leaving only a few strands. His cries echoed out in the silence, as he was cast down to the dust of the earth with the rest of them. And even from down there we could hear their cries. All of heaven wept for these wretched creatures, and watched as they moved around in the shadows of the earth. I watched as Borshac first saw his reflection in the water, and felt his pain as he slashed his hands at its surface. Many of them hated god because of their pain, many hated man for having God’s love, and many more of them hated themselves.

Asoulna’s songs changed from songs of joy to songs of misery. We all missed Borshac, but no one missed him greater than her. She lost her companion at work, and she quietly did his work as well as her own. We saw less and less of her, for the turmoil in heaven required even more messages to be sent.

Rahiim tried harder to keep the mood light hearted, pulling pranks and joking around. For a hundred years he followed Asoulna around, trying to get her to sing a light hearted tune for “it takes two witty people to make a crowd smile,” but she turned him down.

Even Nahiim’s stories were darker, and gloomier. Nahiim stopped smiling all together when Borshac fell, and he tried to ignore his absence by watching Adam closely.

As for me, I couldn’t stop watching the demons hiding in the shadows of the earth. I watched as Lucifer set up a new rank system with him on top, ten lords below him, ten kings below them, ten dukes and duchesses below them, and ten generals below them, with all of the rest of the demons ranked below them. I was fascinated by the difference of mutation that spread out among them. There were many who mutated to the point where we could barley recognize them. Azazel was one of such, for he had developed goat legs and feet (for that was the creature he helped create) and a large muscled body with a black beard and horns. Then there was Lucifer, who kept his beautiful angelic form; long blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin and a soft smile; if we didn’t know better we would think he was one of us.

I watched these creatures as Lucifer deceived Adam’s wife to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad, hurting God’s heart even more when his most beloved creatures rebel against him. This act infuriated God, and he took away Lucifer’s name, calling him Satin the betrayer and Azature the deceiver. But he refused to accept this demon name, for he felt the had done nothing wrong. So he continued to be known as Lucifer, the beautiful demon,

I watched these creatures until I grew to despise them.

As man became more populated, so did the number of demons. More and more angels left in search of freedom and independence. Even more angels left out of jealously since God still loved mankind more, even with the numerous of stupid mistakes each one made over and over again.

The demons grew restless in their confined area, and tried multiple times to go back into heaven so as to rally more angels to become one of them. We never really had to worry about creatures invading our home before, but now it was a concern. One day Asoulna approached me with a letter from God instructing me to train my troops in the art of war. Though my legion was small, we were very capable and learned the art quickly without flaw.

The first battle between the demons and angels could only be described as a bunch of scared kids fighting head on out of fear of being attacked themselves. We were fighting against ghosts of our old friends and couldn’t get the guts to harm them. We pushed them out of heaven under Michael’s lead. With all of them on earth, God created the second dimension Mythos so as to hide them from human eyes.

At first, I thought that I could retire my army to a less violent task. But God wanted me and my legion to defend mankind from the demons. The barrier of the two dimensions only protected the humans from attacks from the demons, not from the sight of them. Like angry children the demons were frightening the inhabitance of the earth, letting out their anger and hate onto the only creatures within reach.

I followed the rules God laid out strictly, keeping each one of my men in heaven. We won many more battles than we lost, and with each passing day I hated the enemy even more.

We were all busy, Nahiim was granted the job of a human helper; a type of angel dedicated to protecting and helping certain humans throughout their lives. Rahiim was granted the honor of becoming a different type of human helper, one that decides how great of a bad event needs to happen so as to help the human to become a better person. Both of them were skilled at what they do, and grew very attached to the humans they were helping.

This is what led Nahiim into trouble multiple times. He would break a few rules in order to try and help a particular human and I would have to come by and clean up the messes that he has made. Multiple times he has tried to protect his particular humans from demon armies, and angering them by using threats as to what he would do if any of them harmed his human. Over two hundred times I had to bring my legion in to bail him and his human out of trouble.

This lead to Nahiim and me fighting more and more often as the centuries went by. Even now I don’t know what angered me more, the fact that I always had to bail him out or the fact that Asoulna always took his side rather than mine.

One day Nahiim’s human, Rachel, was about to attempt suicide. Nahiim panicked, and broke the greatest rule of a human helper. Without special permission he showed himself to her in full form, and begged her not to follow through with it saying that her illegitimate child is meant to do great things. In that moment, Nahiim was pulled back to Mythos and was made a cut wing (an angel who was kicked out of heaven).

I was enraged when Asoulna rushed to his side, trying to be there for his transformation. He deserved it for making such a foolish mistake, so I dragged her back into heaven.

“What are you doing?” She screamed, “He needs me!”

“He deserves whatever he is going through,” I spat out, glaring at his form on earth as he withered in pain.

“So you are just going to leave him, your beloved friend as he is going through the worst part of his life?” Asoulna screamed.

“What can I do? I can’t change what has happened. He is better off alone so that he can adjust to his new way of life,” I said harshly, trying to knock some sense into her.

“Gibson, just let her go,” Rahiim said, serious for once in his life.

Who is he to tell me what to do, this creature who laughs and takes delight in bugging those who surround him.

“Who are you to join in on this conversation? The prankster magically knows how the universe works now? You deserve to be right there next to Nahiim withering in twice the amount of pain as he. You are a mockery of God’s very name!” I screamed at him.

At that, Asoulna hit me. Hard. I was stunned, for it was not in her nature to do such a thing. In that moment, I lost all sense of sanity, all sense of rationalization. I saw that I was the least loved of my beloved friends, perhaps I always was. I turned around quietly, determined to live out my life in isolation.

I spent the days that followed that mocking newly fallen cut wings, shoving my fingers up in the wounds where their wings used to be. I laughed when a demon first saw its reflection, and mocked any one that came within hearing distance. I hated them so greatly I would have been content to spend my days watching them suffer for all of eternity.

But for some reason, God felt more merciful than I did toward these creatures. He wanted to give particular humans special abilities so as to provide a way out for the cut wings and demons. He wanted a male with demon abilities, a female that radiated power, a human that radiates angelic power to forgive and heal the cut wings, a human with angelic battle abilities, a human with the authority to strip any demon or angel its power, and a human that can do a little of all of these.

I didn’t pay much attention to this for I figured it was impossible for anyone, even God, to get any human to stop thinking about themselves long enough to be a part of our struggle when they had many other battles to call their own. It was difficult enough for these creatures to comprehend each other's pain, much less the pain of unfamiliar creatures. Why would they even care about our kind?

There were hundreds of thousands of fails, for when one person developed it's abilities, that doesn’t mean another person of a different type was able to. But recently, the series of failures led to one big success. God had formed a group of prodigies who are great in their own special abilities. Even though they appeared promising, we all doubted their success. I even visited the girl with angel abilities and laughed, concluding that none of them will go far. But even though many of us angels doubted it, they grew and developed with little struggle. It wasn’t long before the young girl with angel abilities was healing cut wings that wanted forgiveness by the millions, filling the very heavens with familiar lost faces.

I hated it. These tainted creatures had no right to be back here, no right to share the same heavens as those who have remained good the whole time. I got my army and divided the heavens, leaving these newcomers the outskirts so that their tainted pasts will not rub off on the rest of us. I even went so far as to rally the other angels saying that they should show either these newly healed ones or the human group neither kindness nor protection. They don’t deserve it, the affection of God or the new abilities that they now have. I wanted these newly formed angels to be cast down where they belong.

But God grew angry at what I was saying, for he wanted the heavens to welcome these creatures as old friends. It was then when I doubted God's abilities, for why would someone who is fair and just show kindness to both those who have made mistakes in their pasts as well as those who never fell. It infuriated me, for I thought that the last being in the universe was blatantly wrong. Angrily I challenged God for his obscure views, saying that I wanted no part of heavenly life if it is stooping to this low level.

It was then that I lead my army straight to the life of a demon. For the first few weeks, I set out to kill the humans in the group that God created.

But the girl with angelic powers would send messages to me, saying that she remembers when I visited her. She called me by my angel name, saying that even though I have made some mistakes, she still loves me. Why? I have no clue. All I know is that I could not find it in myself to harm her for she had a good and pure heart that I have not seen for years.

I gave up my venture to destroy her and her companions and fell into the darkness of self loathing. I went around, apologizing to everyone that I had hurt, for even though I am imprisoned here as a demon it doesn’t mean I should act like one. I hated the creature I was before, one that caused everyone around me pain. And though it might seem like a strange thing to say, I am kinder now as a demon than I ever was as an angel.

Very few people accepted my apology. My whole legion hated me for the wretchedness of the life that I have led them into. They deserve better leader than what I am anyways. Isolated, I went to visit Borshac, and my friend was kind enough to talk to me for a while.

You don’t know true pain until you have been cast away from everyone that you love, until even God himself hates you. You have no life, no hope no dreams, no purpose except to wander amongst the shadows with an empty heart. The darkest part of your soul screams out in its own wretchedness, tearing apart your very being. What do you have left when you have lost everything you once were? What do you have to call your own, to define who you are? I do not know, but I have decided to search for a better version of who I am while I am down here. Its not like I have anything better to do, for I refuse to fall into the demon ways of torturing others in the way that we torture ourselves. I will never fall to that, even if I never get rewarded for my new-found goodness.

The girl with angelic powers saw that I was wandering around, and seeing my remorseful heart she took pity on me. She invited me into her home to stay for the night, saying it was the least she could do for an old friend. I was shocked by this, for she knew very well that I was plotting to kill her not ten days ago. But even so, she forgave me without a second thought. She forgave me, just as she forgave those cut wings even though many have frightened and hurt her. She forgave not for her own benefit, but because we desired it. She loved us not because we deserved it, but because we needed it.

It was then when I understood God’s love of humans. It is not because they would blindly do anything for him or because they had a stupid innocence about them, but because they are capable of going against all odds and doing the right thing. They are capable of forgiving or even loving the most wretched of creatures when they want to change their life around. They are the creatures of new beginnings, for good and for bad. They feel and understand the darkest of horrors within the heart as well as the greatest of joys.

As she laid down to sleep, I walked into her room, taking the first glimpse at myself in her mirror. No longer did I see a blonde haired and blue eyed figure. There, in my reflection, was a massive black creature with blades and talons on my fingers, a lion like creature covered with ebony black fur and bright red eyes. At the sight of my reflection I fell to the ground and wept at the horrid things that I have done, hating myself more than ever. In that moment, I prayed to God for forgiveness, prayed for a way out of this misery.

The girl got up and sat beside me as I wept the blackest of tears, saying that it will be okay. Saying that someday, things will get better. And I believe her, not necessarily because she knows what she is talking about, but because I have no other hope to cling to.

Gibson, my angel name, is the one thing that I cling to from my old life. I’m afraid that if I lose it, if I forget it, I will become like the worst of demons who try to tear the world apart out of their own pain, hate, and rage. My name is the one thing that keeps me remembering why I am here, and I refuse to forget my past mistakes.
I, Gibson, am one of the ten demon lords, title gained by power.