In the beginning. The time before time was a concept. God created the heavens and the earth. He brought light, and dark. He divided land, and sea....
And it was good.
But it lacked something, one he wasn't sure of....until he made it.
He created Adam, and he considered him good. After which, he created Eve. He considered her too.
The Garden of Eden was a sight to behold. It's flora and fauna was of such diversity and beauty, that none could ever hope to match it. It was their home.
"This shall be your home, you may eat for every tree....except one" God proclaimed.
The Forbidden tree, of good and evil. A tree that houses its most deadliest fruit, in which one bite can lead to enlightenment of the highest degree.....and doom of the darkest severity.
As the lord said...."those who eat of its fruit, shall die".
And they both heeded his word. For now, Man was sinless. Man was blameless. Man was a peace. But the Serpent had other plans...
Lucifer, the damned angel in the form of a serpent, slid to where Eve was picking fruit.
"Eve...." the serpent whispered...
"W-what? A....serpent?" Eve, who was startled, said aloud.
"Do you see that tree over there? It has some delicious fruit, much more sweet than any other tree....why not take some from it instead of picking these other fruits?" The Serpent offered.
"I'm sorry, my good serpent, but that tree is the very tree God warned us about. We shall not eat from it, lest we die." Eve retorted gently.
The Serpent Grinned.
"Ah, but you shall not die. God is merely scared that if you were to eat from it, you will grow as knowledgeable and powerful as him. You will not die, I promise you."
As Eve contemplates the information the serpent has given her, little does she and the serpent know....someone watching.
It was thought there were only 5 Archangels...
Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, Sauriel, and Raphael. With the Fallen one, being Lucifer.
Yet there was another, hidden from the records.
His name was Zaphaniel, Archangel of Guardian Light. Keeper of the First Gate. The Sentinel of Purity.
He witnessed the entire exchange, and thought it to be dangerous for Eve if she were to even taste the forbidden fruit.
But still, he thought, "if God was omniscient, can he not see this very temptation happening?" Yet, nevertheless he needed to act quick, before Eve could reach the fruit.
Eve slowly walked with the serpent towards the tree. It's fruit glimmering underneath the sun.
"The tree and it's fruit looked so beautiful, how could it ever possibly harm me.." Eve thought.
She stood on her toes in order to reach the fruit, and plucked it from it's branch. As she was about to give it a small bite, a wind blew from above...
A beautiful angel, his light golden hair shimmering beneath his divine radiance. He looked as if he was both the most gentle creature in the world, and the most powerful, just from the authority and aura radiating from his presence.
Yet when he looked at Eve holding the fruit in her palm. His face was hard and determined. Unwilling to let the Creation of his father fall to the hands of the Archtraitor. He grabbed the fruit from her hands, keeping it from her reach.
"W-what are you doing?" Eve stammered in shock.
"You dare interfere, Zaphaniel?" the serpent hissed at the angel of light.
"I know what you're planning, Lucifer. I will not let you doom the creation of our master." Zaphaniel says with a tone of great calm that would make any mortal shiver in fear and anxiety.
"HAH! Our master? You must be mistaken, Zaphaniel. I have no master, and even so, this changes NOTHING." the serpent says in a mocking manner.
"So you won't cease until someone is damned from eating the fruit?" Zaphaniel says, pondering what must be done in order to prevent Lucifer from ever accomplishing his plan...
"Then so be it.....i shall make sure that if anyone will be damned, it won't be the creation our master so dearly loves." Zaphaniel declares once more, before he takes a bite of the fruit he has held in his hand.
As he does so, the earth shakes and tremors with such ferocity, that even heaven could feel it's vibrations.
Accompanying the tremor made by Zaphaniel's eating of the forbidden fruit, the skies open with dazzling light. A hundred fold angels descend, many of them dazzling in golden radiance. Yet 12 of the Hundred stand out of the rest.
Zaphaniel, being the archangel of guardian light, commands a large retinue of angels, and of those angels, only 12 of them are closest with the Archangel.
You may call them Generals, Confidants, Lords, and other grand titles. But Zaphaniel preferred to simply call them his closest friends...
"ZAPHANIEL! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Anatolia—a veteran warrior angel and friend of the Archangel—screamed in horror.
"Of all the things that man could've done... I never thought he would eat the fruit"
Garan—a divination angel of prophecies and trusted advisor of the Archangel—says with a grim tone, one he rarely uses except when he sees a future of great calamity. For even he never foresaw a future where Zaphaniel eats the Fruit.
"Zaphaniel, why have you eaten it? That was not your choice to make! If you were so worried for the humans, then why not crush it underfoot?! Why eat it?" Phadros—a bookkeeper in the library of the divine, and the one most acquainted with Zaphaniel compared to the other bookkeepers—says on utter confusion at the totally unpredictable and illogical action that Zaphaniel has done.
"This must be done, lest the Archtraitor will persist on condemning humanity—and the only way to prevent that, is to take on that very place, to avoid Fate's punishment for our master's creation." Zaphaniel says, trying to explain himself....yet even he himself, couldn't believe what he has done.
And as heaven opened up for the hundred, it grew wider for the countless millions. The Light of the Absolute Divine also descended with the millions.
"Zaphaniel...." the light spoke in absolute authority.
Zaphaniel, and all the other angels, knelt before the most high...
"Master" Zaphaniel says with the most respect he could utter
"You have made a grave error, one you knew the consequences of...to eat of the fruit of knowledge, you have not only damned yourself, but also those under your command." the light declared upon the Archangel
"W-wait. Under my command? No, please. They have done nothing wrong! Let the burden be mine alone, please! I beg of you!" Zaphaniel pleaded with the light. Hoping to spare his retinue and his closest friends.
"A-after all, I only did so or else your great creation would have been destroyed from the hands of the Archtraitor" He explained further, in a bid to get his master's understanding.
"And you don't think I know that? Zaphaniel?" boomed the voice from above. The light allowing no excuses to be made.
"it was a test. Made for my creation. But you, instead, failed it. And since every angel's retinue comes from the same essence of their commander....they have also, eaten the fruit, by proxy." The light explained with a finality.
"And as such....you shall all be cast out of your divinity. Forbidden to enter heaven, or Eden itself. Just like your fallen brother, you too shall be damned for eternity." The light declared it's verdict. One that shall remain unchanged, for as long as it lived...
"N-no. Please...Not them....Im the one responsible, not them!" Zaphaniel pleaded and grieved all at the same time. To see such a being of greatness pleading and grieving....it felt as if the very thing unfolding before them was untrue, a sight that shouldn't be possible.
"As for you, Lucifer...you shall burn with a curse. Your wings shall be eternally cut, your heart forever thorned in spiked chains, and your body suffering under the degradation of the sun." The Light said upon the serpent, who was fearful of the light.
In that very moment, the serpent was marked with a strange curse. And immediately, he was burnt by the daylight sun. With what's left being ash, to be blown by the winds....
And Zaphaniel remains, on his knees....but now the tears have stopped flowing.