I looked up. “So then this is Hell?”
“Hell?” The queen seemed surprised. “Oh no, my friend. This is Creation, though not as it is supposed to be, thanks to Lilith, daughter of Eve and Lucifer.”
The fat old woman emerged. She kept quiet, but made herself known to the queen in case perhaps the queen was in need of her.
The queen went on:
“When people die, instead of going to Heaven or Hell, they come here to be...” she seemed in search of the appropriate word, “...to be recycled.”
I stiffened.
“I believe you call it ‘reincarnation’ on the Outside, though it is not exactly as glamorous as Outsiders make it out to be. You die, you come to Creation knowing nothing of the life or the place you left, and you stay here until you die here too and then your body, mind and soul are salvaged, harvested and remade. Or, you go straight to Lucifer’s Lair.”
I was still trying to digest her explanation a sentence or two back. I needed to sit down, but felt it neither appropriate nor convenient. My head was spinning and I saw annoying spots in front of my eyes.
“That’s why everyone around here buys and sells body parts,” I said aloud to myself, realizing.
I jerked my head to look at her, my hands trembling. “Wait…I was made from the parts of dead people from the past?”
The queen nodded once, slowly. “Yes, and I suppose you want me to tell you what kind of people you were made from?”
“Well, I hadn’t gotten that far yet,” I said, “but yeah, it’d be nice to know...I think.”
She smiled and a bluebird landed in her hair. “I’m sorry, but I cannot tell you what I do not know.”
I was actually relieved.
“Then please, tell me what you do know,” I pleaded, in the form of a simple and innocent suggestion.
The queen looked toward the old woman below the dais and the old woman waddled off and quickly came back with a wooden chair. She walked up the steps of the dais, over the roots and placed the chair on the stage near me, gesturing for me to take the seat. Absently, I did with hardly any hesitation and the old woman waddled back to her spot near a tree not too far away.
“Creation, before the Fall of Man, was a place where death and suffering could not touch any human soul. But Lucifer, the antagonist of God, told his Fallen kin that he would influence the destruction of God’s Eden to prove his influence was greater even in a world that had never experienced, nor understood worldly acts or emotions.
“In sum, Lucifer was dreadfully bored and decided to sashay by and kick over God’s sand castle,” she added, smiling soft and regretfully.
“I get it,” I said, “but what does Lilith have to do with all of this? I know there’s more to her role than just being the daughter of Eve and Lucifer and someone who wants you dead pretty bad.”
“And you are right,” answered the queen. “I shall tell you the role of Lilith.”
The queen’s hair, made of vines and leaves, began to move behind her, growing and snaking to wrap around a few surrounding trees. It didn’t seem to be for any particular reason, though it may have been for her comfort. Once her hair relaxed and became still again, the many birds and butterflies that the movement had stirred landed in her hair and went back about their business.
“The Bitch of Creation,” the queen said with unbecoming contempt that surprised me for a brief moment, “even more slippery than Lucifer himself. You know they say sometimes the offspring turn out worse than the parent.”
“What did she do?”
The queen paused, smiled softly and then said with regret, “She betrayed her father, Lucifer, used his power against him and banished him from Creation which he ruled since The Fall of Man.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Where there are two evils,” the queen answered, “one is always worse than the other.”
She leaned away from the back of her throne, sitting upright and gently placing her limbs into her lap. She looked so peaceful sitting there with soft, doting green eyes and a kind air about her that suggested not only was she incapable of deceit, but also incapable of doing harm of any kind.
In a way like Mother Earth, I thought as I admired her.
I crossed one leg over the other and finally relaxed.
“How did it happen?” I said, “How could anyone get the best of Lucifer? That goes against everything I was taught...not that I don’t believe you, of course.”
“Of course,” she smiled. “Eden was once the place where all things lived and grew and prospered; where life began. But the moment that Adam and Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit, the world of Eden fell to darkness. And because of The Fall, that darkness spread throughout, taking everything under it and so God then abandoned Eden and went on to make a new world, a place called Heaven.
“Lucifer, seeing that Eden still had great potential, took it over. Under his control and in agreement with God, Eden became the afterlife, where all souls go to wait until the Day of Judgment and from there will either ascend into Heaven, or descend into Hell to spend all of eternity. For a time, there was no such thing as reincarnation, but when God saw that man was too flawed, He shut off the Well of New Life and refused the creation of any more.”
I frowned. “That’s harsh,” I said and then let the queen continue.
“Yes,” she agreed, “but an understandable decision.”
I nodded once slowly.
“Milady,” the queen stopped and looked over at the old woman, “please do get our long-awaited guest a nice cup of hot tea.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” She bowed and waddled off through the trees.
The queen turned to me again. “It was Lilith’s idea to take old souls and recycle them. Without new life, Earth, Lucifer’s very playground, was on the brink of extinction. Women were barren, or could not carry any child to term. Men were strangely infertile and there was nothing to balance life and death.”
I added, “And eventually what was left of humans would have died out.”
The queen smiled softly in answer. “Lucifer never had the power to create new life, but he did have the power to manipulate existing life, and as a reward to Lilith for discovering the idea that helped repopulate Lucifer’s playground, he made Lilith his Right Hand and bestowed upon her some of his power.”
“Bad move, I take it?”
“A very bad move,” she answered solemnly, her fused root legs shifting and drudging across the dais floor. “Lilith, more hungry for power than Lucifer himself, plotted against him for many lifetimes. Not only was she Lucifer’s daughter and his Right Hand, but she became his queen, even bearing his children, all thirteen of them.”
She added after a pause, “You know them as the Zodiac.”
I counted in my head. “The Zodiac?” I said, “but there are only twelve.”
“No, there are thirteen,” the queen said.
The old woman re-entered the chamber from the veil of the trees, carrying a tray with two ceramic mugs.
“Ah yes, here we are,” said the queen. She reached out a limb and curled a vine-like finger firmly around the handle of one mug, extending it to my open hand.
I took it carefully and sipped.
“Taurus was Lucifer’s favorite until Scorpio came along.”
I looked up from the mug where I stopped and just held it an inch from my lips. I was overly surprised and naturally confused.
“But back to the matter at hand,” said the queen, realizing. “I need not overwhelm you with things that have nothing to do with your task.”
“Yeah, that might be best.”
“Lilith and their daughters seduced Lucifer, and then she tricked Lucifer into granting her one request. Lucifer, intoxicated by lust in its purest form, agreed.”
“And what was her request?” I was figuratively on the edge of my seat, fascinated by the story, not to mention who was telling it.
The queen paused and casually sipped from the second mug, which I k
new was not hot tea. There was no steam rising from it like in mine.
“Lilith requested that he go to Earth and come back to Creation within six days and bring a pure soul with him, lest he be banished from Creation for all time. Lucifer, knowing that God’s influence was still powerful over the humankind that He created, was confident that he could yield results and so he left Creation without a thought otherwise. But what Lucifer did not realize was that finding a pure soul was impossible. There was not one human on Earth left who was not born of sin. By then, all people who were made new, given a new soul from God’s Well of New Life had long since died. The only people left on Earth were those like you, people that had been recycled and created by Lucifer’s will, not the Will of God.
“Of course, Lucifer tried to force his way back into Creation after the sixth day, but he had banished himself with his own word, and Creation has not been the same since.”
I looked deeply in thought for a moment, chewing on my bottom lip, eyes drawn together. I then looked up. “If Lucifer ruled Creation, how could he not get back in even if he gave his word? I would think Lucifer could easily go back on his word and do what he wanted.”
“Not if God’s power helped keep him to his word,” the queen said with a secretive grin. “What comes around goes around, as you might say.”
“That’s right,” I said, “It was God’s turn to kick over Lucifer’s sand castle.”
“Perhaps.”
I withdrew and pressed my back firmly against the chair. I went to put the mug of tea on a sturdy root protruding from the floor next to me, until I realized it was a part of the queen. I decided to hold it instead. Another hummingbird zoomed by so closely that I felt the air from the rapid movement of its wings against my cheek. And then the foul-mouthed Blue Jay landed on a branch to my left, called me a ‘jerk-off’ and then flew away.
Any other time, I would not have paid much attention, but when a fly landed on a stray leaf next to my knee, I did a double take.
“Another one of Lilith’s bright ideas,” said the queen.
I hesitantly looked away from the fly. “What was?”
“Putting the souls of humans into dead animals, manipulating this and that with no regard for what might be produced. Everything and everyone is destined to be made and remade, over and over again until the end of Time when there is no longer an Earth to be reborn into, or a Creation to be recycled from.”
The queen became quiet suddenly and looked toward me with a pretend wary eye.
“I see you brought a friend,” she said. “You do not have to hide, little imp, you are welcome here, seeing as how you’re here already.”
I raised a brow.
In a grotesque transformation that left me grimacing and gritting my teeth, Sophia shifted back into the little girl. She stood naked, and had no shame.
“So you’re a damn tree,” said Sophia with her hands propped on her naked girlish hips. “After all this time, I finally get into this chamber and instead of a beautiful woman wearing a crown and lopping off the heads of blasphemers, I find a huge talking tree with tits.”
She crossed her arms.
“I apologize,” I said. “I didn’t know she was in here. I swear it. I mean I did bring her to the fortress, but—”
The queen motioned a limb calmly to ease my worries. “I believe you, Norman. No need for apologies. Imps are what they are and they will do and say what is in their nature to do and say.”
“Why did you come in here?” I scolded Sophia.
“Hey, I can be a fly now,” Sophia snapped back. “Not exactly what I wanted, but I’d be stupid not to use it to my advantage.”
“Just sit there and be quiet then.” I gave the queen my attention again, an embarrassed and apologetic expression on my face. “Please finish the story.”
The queen smiled and began to speak, but Sophia cut in again. “You’re a big lie,” she said, stepping up, “What’s your real name, anyway? Are you even the real queen?”
“Sophia! That’s enough!” I stood from the chair and set the mug on the root nonetheless. I went towards her, taking her shoulder vigorously into my hand. “You little brat.”
She jerked her body sideways, pulling her shoulder from my grasp. “Hey, I lived up to my end of the bargain. Far as I’m concerned, I don’t belong to you anymore, so leave me alone.”
“Oh, but you’re wrong about that,” I scoffed. “You belong to me until I say otherwise, and at this rate you might belong to me forever, so sit down and shut your hole—better yet, put on some clothes!”
Sophia’s face scrunched up tightly with anger, but this time she kept quiet. From the steps of the dais, the old woman waddled up with a green blanket and she placed it over Sophia’s shoulders. Sophia closed herself up inside the fabric, but only because she was told to, not necessarily because she cared.
The queen leaned back in her great tree throne, listening and watching, but I noticed she appeared to be enjoying the scene. Perhaps she even thought it was funny.
“It is how I am kept safe, little imp,” the queen began, “how I’ve been protected since the Fall of Man. You see, the people of Creation, like those on the Outside, believe most of what they hear. There has only ever been one queen, and truly, I have no name other than the Tree of Life—technically, I am not even a queen.
“But the people of Creation need something to believe in, someone they can give their loyalty to, who is not Lilith. The people here know nothing of the truth, where Man came from, who Lucifer really is and what lies on the Outside.”
“But why the ruse?” I said, suddenly curious about the truth a lot like Sophia but without the disrespect. “Why make people believe there’s more than one queen and that they’ve all died or been assassinated?”
The queen raised her mug to her lips.
“The truth is too much for them,” she answered after taking a sip. “And until this very day, I have been nothing more than a frail and vulnerable plant trapped in that pot. If the truth of my identity ever escaped this chamber, the fate of my existence would have been sealed by the followers of Lilith.
“I have managed, with the help of my few most trusted keepers,” the queen glanced at the old woman, “to live this long, and that is an amazing feat.”
I sat back down and put my head in my hands for a moment. I sighed deep and heavily.
“Geez, everything was a lie,” said Sophia, “the rumors about this queen and that queen, their so-called personalities, the songs about them, everything.” She looked away disappointed. “I feel so dirty and used.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head, but was too tired to argue with her anymore.
“Sorry to disappoint, little one, but like you I do what I must because I am what I am.”
“Alright,” I jumped in to stir the awkwardness, “Now onto why I’m here exactly. Though I have a feeling I don’t want to know.”
“You are in Creation to right the first wrong made in history,” the queen said simply. “You are in Creation to free the Three Trees and to set in motion The End of the Beginning.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Now isn’t that the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I don’t think ‘stupidest’ is even a word,” said Sophia.
The queen added, “It is true, Norman, that you were sent here to undo what Adam and Eve did, and to make things right. If you succeed, Lilith will lose her power, Creation will be restored and again it will become the Garden of Eden.”
“Right. And-that-makes-sense-how?”
“How does it not?” said the queen.
“He’s just stupid, the most stupidest stupid person I ever met—see, that word just doesn’t flow right. It can’t be a real word.”
“It doesn’t make sense because Lucifer is the one that sent me here to do it and not God.”
The queen rose from her throne, her enormous root body adjusting underneath her to steady her weight. The chamber shook and rumbled and hundreds of
white petals and green leaves fell from the ceiling where the tops of the many trees were hidden by the darkness. She stretched out her limb-like arms, stirring the hundreds of birds that had taken rest amid her branches, and then she calmed. I had nearly forgotten just how womanly she was, how shapely her hips were and the way her neck and shoulders appeared soft and gentle despite being covered by a thin layer of white bark that looked only somewhat like skin.
Sophia had given up, holding only a slight grudge against us for so rudely ignoring her.
“Naturally,” the queen continued, “Lucifer was angry and vengeful for what Lilith had done and so he struck a deal with God. Lucifer swore an oath that he would one day find a man to right the first wrong ever made, the wrong that Lucifer himself heavily influenced. In-turn, not only would Lilith be cursed to remain in Hell forever, but all of her followers would be granted a second chance, a one-time opportunity to pledge their allegiance and love to God and make it into God’s Heaven—to infuriate Lilith all the more.
“The only souls never to be granted that opportunity are Lucifer, Lilith and their offspring, who will be condemned to Hell eternal, Lucifer to rule over the souls of the damned, but neither of them ever allowed into God’s Grace.”
“Sounds like a sucky deal to me,” I said. I leaned back in my chair and propped my right ankle over my left knee, my arms crossed at my chest.
“Now I know that isn’t a word: ‘sucky’. Sounds made up.”
“Shut up already,” shouted the old woman from below the dais.
Sophia grumbled and stomped her foot against the floor. “Never thought I’d say this, but I’m actually starting to miss Tsaeb! At least he fights back.”
Strangely enough, I missed Tsaeb too.
“Oh, the things I see when I look away from the likes of me!”
--
“AND I TRUST THIS Tsaeb is not yet another fly upon my wall?”
“Oh, no ma’am,” I answered, looking around though just to be sure. “Lucifer sent him here with me, but we left him outside the fortress.”
Dirty Eden Page 14