Once, the world as you know it did not exist: a huge vacuum that was intoxicated with emptiness. Long time ago, before time was born, before light, or even darkness existed, the universe floated behind a thick layer of nothing. It reeked of robust emptiness so much that space was solid with meaninglessness. Desolation spread; running into every corner until this vacuum became sore with depression. Consciousness would be a plain miracle. There is nothing beautiful about being oblivious; there is nothing ugly about it either. Sometimes, life is its own nemesis. Darkness is not so different from light. Good is only isolated from bad as the edges of a coin separate its sides. This world floated, void of extremes: it was raw perfection held in space. The world lay bare, its dimensions filled with hollowness, save a corner preserved for miracles. Like a flower blooming from concrete, in intense darkness, awareness beckoned in an infinitely small space. This space was so small that the energy choked on itself. This otherwise perfect world was now stained with an iota of chaos blooming with mad intensity. It exploded! Life was born. The old universe was swallowing itself at a rigorous speed. Light and darkness cocktailed in severe lunacy, energy splashed with passionate vigor. The universe roared in excitement as perverse chemistry danced in its belly; a beverage of confusion; emotions jumped against subatomic particles in euphoric agility. The world was alive and it puked morbid beauty; a perverse magnificence: the kind of addictive fascination that is birthed by chaos. A conscious blanket ran over the cold world with sparkling energy like an epidemic. It hid itself behind a cloud of mystery so that till this day, man has not fully understood its true nature. El, Ra, Olorun, Addonai, Zeus, are some of the names men have used to unwrap its mystery and shadow it with a kind of sacredness. Here was raw consciousness; a concentration of every emotion; good and bad forged into a united cloud of pandemonium; a direct contrast of the old world, stretching until every fiber of emptiness was robust with its life. It filled the universe so much that the dimensions of the universe were tensed with cognizance. The beginning was still to come. It staggered through sparks of itself. Beaming through its ethereal skin was the highest form of consciousness. It was drunk with life. It had spontaneously wrapped itself around strings of sub atomic particles so that it now glowed with a body that flushed with absolute power. It could hear sovereignty rush through its eerie veins. It swam within dimensions in awe of itself. One would think that an entity that sagged with so much supremacy would be self-sufficient, but absolute power breeds absolute insecurity. It desperately craved to be worshipped, to be reminded how insanely grand it was. It became terribly vain, lusting for absurdities that did not even exist. It also craved companionship. It felt awfully lonely. Its glory was its own curse; unparalleled power and loneliness are the two sides of a coin, conjoined twins that share one skin. Out of a selfish desire to possess and be possessed, Lucifer was formed- a cocktail of acute sparks musically married so that it was the most beautiful thing it ever experienced. It breathed ersatz life into the ethereal essence that wore billions of intense stars and floated obliviously. Lucifer became alive, its mind exploding with a desperate mixture of emotions that would plunge any mortal into raging lunacy. It exhumed feminine delicacy that made the first quintessence’ phallic pride stretch. The two essences spiraled into chemistry until they looked like a galactic centrifugal process, dancing in the awe of its glory; Lucifer worshipped God. That was the purpose of its incarnation. The first quintessence felt love and fulfillment tense its vast dimensions. It was not enough. It needed to be God. Consciousness in the mortal realm is trivialized by light-years when compared to what it is in Araboth, the seventh Heaven. ‘Araboth’ is a secular language that would mean ‘empty’. No, not the kind of emptiness that impresses meaninglessness in our minds. It is a paradoxical kind of emptiness that is literarily translated to enormity-a particular realm forged to source other forms throughout the seven heavens. This is where God lived, choking on another kind of life so potent that it kills. Lucifer was in this realm too. Time had still not been born yet and the six-winged seraphs roamed about the eerie city, powered by the life in God. There was no other heaven by this time and Araboth glowed in space. It was worshipped by an umpteen seraphs and Lucifer shone with both its glory and companionship. The first essence became its true self- God, but a true god is never content, never! Araboth spread in peculiar irrelevance; a docile air wrapped itself around the realm.
It had started to resemble the face of the old world- a vacuum drifting in peaceful meaninglessness. It had existed long enough and was getting too relaxed. This is not the way of the universe. It needed to expand. Conflict is the fuel for growth. Lucifer gleamed with a majestic glory as well – a reflection of God. However, a true shadow of God always desires more. Lucifer’s desire, like drops of blood in water, bloomed. Six-winged Seraph fell at its feet to feed its weak ego. Its ego became all the more hungry. It craved to eat God itself. Abomination!! Who dared rise against the true essence of life? What else had the effrontery to yearn for ridiculous things such as absolute power? Lucifer drew life from the glass of consciousness that flowed behind the translucent skin of the Almighty; it should not think itself higher. Has it become suddenly wrong to want to grow? Absolute power raises a void emptied of confidence; a void without confidence would be desperate for companionship. Lucifer had been the dense skeleton that the Almighty wore the flesh of its insecurities. It was like the pillow dense with tears of the afflicted. It was God too by birth right. Chaos was born again. Araboth shook with rigorous madness as tides of energy rose high and sub atomic particles of passionate origin collided. It was a full-blown out war. Lucifer’s desires had become more potent than its sense of duty and it fought with a velocity. It would not succeed because it was born of selfishness; it was designed to serve narcissism but not be part of it. Its total essence was wrong from birth- born in a world to serve it but not be a part of it. It lost the battle, but found victory somewhere behind its misery. It was finally free from this world. It was banished from the slavery of confined duty; it was sent away from Araboth. It was finally free to be whatever it wanted to be. This too is a nemesis by itself. It now felt the stings of idleness and the insecurity that plagued every god. It no longer only had to be a shadow of a god, it was now God. It roamed through the realms that were thick with less intense levels of consciousness; a restless demon, mixed feelings sat behind its throat and no matter how hard it coughed, it sat there like a stubborn rock. It was alone. The Almighty looked through the ethereal windows of the city. The chaos had created independent universes that spread with unequal intensity of life. It saw Lucifer swimming through space, its brightness dazzled in a wave-like motion. It became sad and longed to have its friend back. It was impossible, its fragile ego would not let it, but it craved a second-chance and a second chance it would get. It left Araboth. It would create a life form that would be far lesser than anything it had created before. It would make a home for this dim life form far away in Vilon, the realm of the lowest consciousness. It would encourage this new life to expand like it had done; to become God like it had done, instead of fighting against it but this new life would only learn to rule in Vilon. They would learn the way of the Universe that it had learned, that Conflict breeds growth. They would learn to grow only amidst chaos. It would Love them with every iota of power that floated inside of it and give them free will, so that they are not enslaved by the sense of duty that plagued Lucifer constantly. Lucifer would later realize what the Almighty was about to do and would spend the rest of its immortal days feeling envious. To lead them astray would be its new purpose in the new world and it would pursue it with the same intensity that it once used as a servant in Araboth. The dawn of the beginning had ended.
About Ogala
Ogala Osoka is currently studying Literature at the University of Calabar, Calabar in Nigeria. He is passionate about writing and has constantly wondered about the concept of deities and how it has affected people individually and culturally. ‘Restless’ and ‘aloof’ are the two words he uses to describe himself as he always tries to analyze abstract ideas while maintaining his distance from them. Reading and listening to rap music are his idea of relaxing.
