The Books of Shallice

Beyond the Finite -- Chapter 2

2015-01-09

Andrew Norman

The man and woman continued to labor for their Creator and to serve Him, and the Creator aided them in doing so. After some time, the great winged beast appeared before them.

The beast appeared out of the night sky to approach the man and woman, from beyond the firmament of the world. It was much larger than the man or woman, and it arched its long neck to move its head closer to the ground to look at the man and the woman. The length of its head was no less than the height of the man. Its body was thick and strong, and its wingspan was twice its length from head to tail. It had two arms and two legs with appendages that resembled talons. Its body was mostly covered in reptilian scales of a deep green color, and it breathed out fire when it spoke.

"Blessings upon you, my dearest humans," the beast said to them. The humans could see a forked tongue within the flame in its mouth when it spoke. Its voice was like neither the Creator's nor the humans'. It was deep and sounded itself like a great fire, but despite its alien nature, it was indeed the spoken word of the beast.

"Blessings upon you, as well," the woman replied. "Never before have I known of a creature aside from the two of us that was given the gift of the tongue by the Creator." The man and woman had not yet conceived children, and there were no other humans on the earth besides them to speak.

"I am not of your Creator," the beast said. "I come not only from a different world, but from a different universe."

The man began to speak. "If you are not of the Creator, then what is your end?"

"I am for myself. My ends are my own pleasures, as your Creator's end is His own pleasure."

"I cannot comprehend this," said the man.

"I did not expect you to comprehend my words," said the beast, "but I am here to speak to you so that I may reach my end. Come with me, and I will show you something."

The beast brought them to the wall around the wood that contained the tree of which the Creator spoke to the man.

"In those walls," said the beast, "is a tree. Its fruit will give you great power and great joy."

"We know of this tree," said the woman. "Our Creator told us of it. Its purpose is not for us, and our purpose is not for it."

"Are you for no more than your purpose?" the beast said.

"I do not understand."

"Will you continue to toil for your Creator when there is so much more that can be done? Will you continue to be a slave when you could be as great as your God?"

"You are saying that the fruit will make us as great as the Creator?" the man said.

"Eating the fruit will give you the same power and the same glory as your Creator."

"We were not purposed to eat the fruit of that tree," said the woman. "Eating the fruit will defy the purpose given to us by our Creator, and it will sever us from that purpose. What will we be without purpose? We will become nothing."

"You will surely not become nothing! The purpose forced upon you by your God has made you a captive. You are correct that eating of the fruit will sever you from your purpose, and that is why I tell you to eat it. When you are freed of your purpose, you will make for yourselves new purposes. You will become like your God, and you will expand your domain in this universe. You will control your own destiny, devise your own ends, and you will keep your glory for yourself rather than give it to your God!"

"This we will receive," said the man, "by only eating of the fruit of this tree?"

"This, and much more than this."

"Then you must eat this fruit," said the man to the woman. "For I love you greatly, and I wish for you to have the greatest glory. And I will eat this fruit, too, so that together we may be as the Creator is, and I will love you and serve you for eternity."

Then the beast roared, making a hideous sound that made the humans afraid. It blew from its mouth fire onto the wall that the man had built around the wood, and it leapt upon the wall, into the fire. Using its mouth and its talons, it tore a hole into the wall so that the humans could easily pass into the wood.

The man and the woman went into the wood, able to see it by the light of the fire on the remains of the wall behind them. The beast perched onto a nearby tree, lowering its head with its long neck to see what the humans were doing.

The man led the woman to the tree. It was by the light of the fire that the woman saw the fruit for the first time, because the wall was built before she was created. She saw that the appearance of the fruit was fair, and she picked a piece from the branches. Looking at the man, she bit into the fruit, for her love for the man was greater than her love for the Creator, just as his love for her was greater than his love for the Creator.

She then handed the fruit to the man, and looking at her, he bit into it. The man then said to her, "Now we will design our own purposes, and my purpose will be to glorify you."

The beast then lifted its head and roared, and they were again afraid, but the sound of the roar was dwarfed by a new sound coming from the depths of their world. It was a deep rumbling, and the ground began to shake.

The humans looked around them to see their world in chaos. The mountains began to crumble, valleys began to rise, seas began to boil while other seas would freeze, rock melted, lands split apart and drifted away from each other into seas, the structures the humans built were destroyed, and the planet itself seemed to age, whither, and die. They looked up into the night sky to see stars, planets, and even galaxies appear to flee from them.

"What is happening?" the man said to the beast.

The beast roared again, and the sound of the roar was the sound of joy.

"I have accomplished my end," the beast said. "You have done to your realm as I have done to mine. You have brought darkness and pain. Is it not beautiful?"

"What is your end?" the woman said.

"My end is my own pleasure, and my pleasure is found in the Creator's pain, for I hate Him. He is my Satan, and I am His."

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