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About Simon
Dec. 20th, 2020 02:27 pmAnd there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
--Rev. 12:7-9
"Come ye forth, Kemahiel."
He couldn't. He couldn't kill his brothers. No matter how utterly stupid they were being. But war was bustin' out all over, and he just knew that Dad was going to tell him to take up his crossbow and ride into the thick of it. Everyone was needed, the battles were furious, and angels and Fallen alike were dying right and left. Maybe he was just a little messenger, but it seemed that even his puny weapon was necessary to the effort.
"Dad, please..."
The voice was inexorable. "Come ye forth, Kemahiel."
And it broke his heart to say "...no."
The pain was like nothing he'd ever felt before. Agony ripped through his soul as his Grace was bodily torn out, more agony in his wings as horrible scales replaced the beautiful feathers, and he Fell, and Fell, and Fell, separated from his Father forever--
The formerly joyful little messenger wore his bitterness on his sleeve and complained to all and sundry of his lot. "I Fell because I wouldn't kill my brothers, why would Dad make me do something He never made me for, well, I'll show Him." And he did. For thousands of years he went to and fro, making deals and reaping souls at crossroads for Lucifer -- never once asking himself the essential question of what Dad had really been asking of him. He would hurt his Father as badly as he'd been hurt, and maybe it would mitigate his own pain at the separation and loss of Grace.
Only, it never did. Instead, the bitterness grew and expanded like a noxious flower, until he was completely consumed by it.
Lucifer, naturally, was delighted by his protégé, and carefully nurtured him along, rewarding him for jobs well done and particularly difficult souls brought down to Hell. Kemahiel took the name "Simon Kemble" and never looked back at his angelic name or nature.
Until.
It started innocently enough. Japhrimel had been separated from their brethren for awhile and become disenchanted with the whole demon gig, his ties to certain humans stronger than his ties to Hell had ever been. No one was really surprised when he called Home. No, the surprise was at the answer. Jaf... got his wings back. And Simon, who didn't need to breathe, felt as if the air had been vacuumed from his lungs when Razas told him about it.
Demons didn't really have "friends," per se. They had acquaintances, people who used them, people whom they used, in the constant clawing and maneuvering to get ahead. If Simon had a friend, it would be Razas, formerly Razseferiel, who was bound to a grimoire by a grumpy Persian sorcerer three hundred years in the past. And when Raz did the calling-Home thing, it knocked Simon for an even bigger loop.
Razas, however, could hide from Hell's wrath; he had a human friend, Ben Lockwood, with a heavily-warded house. Actually the "human" was a werewolf, a Hound of God partnered with an angel -- Guriel. Simon eventually decided he was happy for Raz, but stayed on the fence concerning his own redemption. The cost for both himself and his brothers, above and below, was just too high. He Fell for refusing to kill them. Getting them killed would be just as bad.
And that's when Lucifer found him musing about "traitors" one day -- and ordered him to kill Guriel. Thousands of years, working for Lu, and he'd never, ever been faced with something like this. Simon wasn't a warrior, had never pretended to be a warrior... Lockwood smited him back to Hell once; he'd be no match whatsoever for a soldier like Guriel. And that was assuming he'd want to follow through on this assignment in the first place, which he didn't.
The final straw was the realization, in a conversation with Razas, that Dad had never said "Kill your brothers." Dad only said "Come ye forth." Simon had made a giant assumption about what Dad wanted, and he finally figured out that, Dad being Dad, He wouldn't have asked him to violate the way He Made him. So, he Fell over a complete and utter misunderstanding, and a lack of Faith in his Father. This was the epiphany that led to a conversion of startling proportions.
He liked to say that he didn't jump back into Dad's arms. Lu shoved him.
So, on a mountainside, in the middle of a battle, he hit his knees. In an Armani suit. He helped kick over a spiritual gate, defeated the critter locked behind the physical gate, and fulfilled a prophecy, all in the space of about... ten minutes. And then, just to prove that all this redemption happenin' up in here was real, he used is new-found Grace to stem the tide when Guriel got hit deep in the back with demonic zombie pruning shears after they thought the battle was over.
And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
--Rev. 12:7-9
"Come ye forth, Kemahiel."
He couldn't. He couldn't kill his brothers. No matter how utterly stupid they were being. But war was bustin' out all over, and he just knew that Dad was going to tell him to take up his crossbow and ride into the thick of it. Everyone was needed, the battles were furious, and angels and Fallen alike were dying right and left. Maybe he was just a little messenger, but it seemed that even his puny weapon was necessary to the effort.
"Dad, please..."
The voice was inexorable. "Come ye forth, Kemahiel."
And it broke his heart to say "...no."
The pain was like nothing he'd ever felt before. Agony ripped through his soul as his Grace was bodily torn out, more agony in his wings as horrible scales replaced the beautiful feathers, and he Fell, and Fell, and Fell, separated from his Father forever--
The formerly joyful little messenger wore his bitterness on his sleeve and complained to all and sundry of his lot. "I Fell because I wouldn't kill my brothers, why would Dad make me do something He never made me for, well, I'll show Him." And he did. For thousands of years he went to and fro, making deals and reaping souls at crossroads for Lucifer -- never once asking himself the essential question of what Dad had really been asking of him. He would hurt his Father as badly as he'd been hurt, and maybe it would mitigate his own pain at the separation and loss of Grace.
Only, it never did. Instead, the bitterness grew and expanded like a noxious flower, until he was completely consumed by it.
Lucifer, naturally, was delighted by his protégé, and carefully nurtured him along, rewarding him for jobs well done and particularly difficult souls brought down to Hell. Kemahiel took the name "Simon Kemble" and never looked back at his angelic name or nature.
Until.
It started innocently enough. Japhrimel had been separated from their brethren for awhile and become disenchanted with the whole demon gig, his ties to certain humans stronger than his ties to Hell had ever been. No one was really surprised when he called Home. No, the surprise was at the answer. Jaf... got his wings back. And Simon, who didn't need to breathe, felt as if the air had been vacuumed from his lungs when Razas told him about it.
Demons didn't really have "friends," per se. They had acquaintances, people who used them, people whom they used, in the constant clawing and maneuvering to get ahead. If Simon had a friend, it would be Razas, formerly Razseferiel, who was bound to a grimoire by a grumpy Persian sorcerer three hundred years in the past. And when Raz did the calling-Home thing, it knocked Simon for an even bigger loop.
Razas, however, could hide from Hell's wrath; he had a human friend, Ben Lockwood, with a heavily-warded house. Actually the "human" was a werewolf, a Hound of God partnered with an angel -- Guriel. Simon eventually decided he was happy for Raz, but stayed on the fence concerning his own redemption. The cost for both himself and his brothers, above and below, was just too high. He Fell for refusing to kill them. Getting them killed would be just as bad.
And that's when Lucifer found him musing about "traitors" one day -- and ordered him to kill Guriel. Thousands of years, working for Lu, and he'd never, ever been faced with something like this. Simon wasn't a warrior, had never pretended to be a warrior... Lockwood smited him back to Hell once; he'd be no match whatsoever for a soldier like Guriel. And that was assuming he'd want to follow through on this assignment in the first place, which he didn't.
The final straw was the realization, in a conversation with Razas, that Dad had never said "Kill your brothers." Dad only said "Come ye forth." Simon had made a giant assumption about what Dad wanted, and he finally figured out that, Dad being Dad, He wouldn't have asked him to violate the way He Made him. So, he Fell over a complete and utter misunderstanding, and a lack of Faith in his Father. This was the epiphany that led to a conversion of startling proportions.
He liked to say that he didn't jump back into Dad's arms. Lu shoved him.
So, on a mountainside, in the middle of a battle, he hit his knees. In an Armani suit. He helped kick over a spiritual gate, defeated the critter locked behind the physical gate, and fulfilled a prophecy, all in the space of about... ten minutes. And then, just to prove that all this redemption happenin' up in here was real, he used is new-found Grace to stem the tide when Guriel got hit deep in the back with demonic zombie pruning shears after they thought the battle was over.
