The Forbidden Fruit

by S. K Munt

  That letter did crazy things to my head, and worse things to my body. I had a stack of them amassed by then which I kept in a hollow book that Kohl had sent me, but that night, I went to bed with that one angled so that the moonlight could shine on it, and experienced Heaven with my own hands, while imagining his tongue, hands and that other thing doing it for me.

  This isn’t cheating on Kohén… This is my imagination- no harm, no foul, no contact, no broken contract!

  But, when I woke up the next morning to Kohén bursting through my door to tell me to pack my bags because we were going to Pacifica, I seriously considered feigning illness, just as I had before the ball. How could I be around Kohl, knowing that he wanted me so? And how could one twin keep his desire for me a secret from the other? Despite the six month promise that they had made the previous summer to meet again, a year had lapsed and so I hadn’t been prepared to have to see Kohl in the flesh anytime soon, least of all with a few day’s notice! I didn’t want to go- I was certain that I’d end up being banished if I did.

  But this was Kohl I was being given the chance to spend time with- the boy who needed me more than he needed anyone else- not just Kohén, the boy who loved everyone physically and equally, so I stupidly packed my bags and tried to convince myself that I was going to be fine, and that I’d be able to rise above the temptation to embrace Kohl as I had learned to do with Kohén, even though something sick inside me told me that regardless of both of their vague feelings for me, I was going to end up alone and haunting the other side of Eden’s fence, just like my father.

  THE CREATION STORY

  BOOK V OF VI

  THIS TEXT IS NOT TO BE EDITED, ALTERED, SUMMARISED OR TRANSLATED INTO ANY LANGUAGE. OFFENDERS WHO ATTEMPT TO WILL BE CHARGED WITH TREASON AGAINST CALLIEL AND PUT TO DEATH.

  After three years of Armageddon, the world’s population had dwindled down, God was almost exhausted and though many of the angels had brought evidence of Satan or the battered bodies of her dark soldiers, many had not returned and he realised that they were probably all dead, possibly even Miguel, which made him shake with rage for he could not return to Heaven to check until he’d found Satan.

  He’d encountered many of her ‘Soul-Mates’ with their black wings, and had seen them encouraging people to stuff their pockets full of diamonds and jewels, telling them to take everything of ‘worth’ instead of trying to get them to safety. Furious that such value had been placed on such ridiculous things as shiny rocks, and that the fallen angels remaining were turning the humans left against one another and him in one final bout of greedy, corruptive warfare, God had sent out a wave of ill-will and ugly hatred, turning every precious stone under the earth’s crust to dust and making mines and mountains collapse where they stood, rendering them utterly worthless. He then took one last shot to scare Satan out of hiding- he burst riverbanks and then dropped the temperature until the water and land froze as one, and then he inundated deserts with rain, but still, she didn’t come forward, which was aggravating beyond measure. The face of the earth was recognisable but notably altered, and there were only a few thousand humans left alive out of billions, so where was she? He knew that she wasn’t dead because people were still crying out her name and their souls were leaving their body before he could get to them to earn their hearts, so how had she managed to stay concealed and retain power?

  God was weakening again, and because he knew that soon enough, he would be too weak to fight her, he called out to the people of the world, speaking to them through their hearts again for the first time in thousands of years, and let them know that if Satan did not show herself in a heartbeat, the earth would be gone the beat after for he had to leave it, but he would not leave it to be overrun by demons.

  He felt Miguel’s spark of anguish instantly and took flight with a relieved heart, arriving on the grassy precipice of New Eden just as Satan landed across from him, as glorious and powerful as ever. She was too strong for him to fight as a man, and he saw that straight away, so he prepared himself to do what had to be done- give her the option to concede defeat and love him once more, or implode the earth so that she would not be able to draw negative energy from it again.

  ‘You’d impregnate a women even in all of this chaos?’ Satan demanded, thunderstruck by the sight of the infant in Gabriella’s arms- at least until God descended across from her, and then her focus changed and her surprised expression turned into a beatific sneer. ‘Men…!’

  ‘You’re appalled by the mating habits of a man, after all the temptation you’ve encouraged?’ God asked, even though he too was a little thrown by the sight of Miguel protecting humans, instead of saving them. He addressed his favoured son: ‘Why have you not returned to me, or called for me?!’

  Miguel stood forward and unfolded his wings, revealing a skeleton of ragged, dirty feathers. ‘I could not, Lord. I have given too much to return home.’

  ‘Oh …’ Satan’s brows pulled together. ‘You look like-’

  ‘Hell?’ God supplied, and Satan turned on him, hissing.

  ‘Hell was beautiful! And loved and cared for!’ she reminded him, and she was still so beautiful that it made him ache for the first days when he’d kissed her rosy cheeks, and had run his fingers through her satiny hair in gentle, paternal affection. Only now she was as beautiful as a diamond was- her face was hard, and she was adorned in cloth that looked like starlight, while twinkling from head to toe in precious gems. She was pure poison to a male’s heart- even his.

  ‘It is YOUR favourite son who looks as discarded as I once felt!’

  ‘Yes well, I’m about to heal him and rob you of your ability to corrupt another innocent soul again!’

  ‘Not without a fight you won’t!’ Satan jeered.

  ‘You cannot destroy the world! Either of you!’ Miguel cried, jumping to his feet and protecting Gabriella and his children by wrapping what remained of his wings around them. ‘Or one another!’

  But God and Satan were too focused on one another to hear him. ‘I am not here to fight you unless you force me to, but to absolve you!’

  ‘How could someone so fallen hope to heal or absolve anyone?’ Satan demanded.

  ‘I have not fallen!’ God raged at her. ‘I cannot fall!’ But he sighed at the sound of wounded pride and self-righteousness in his human voice, which had once been so gentle and kind, and struggled to get control of his character. Still, he seethed on the inside to know that she was already influencing him- he had to end her! ‘And no one should have to.’ He paused and then said sombrely. ‘I made a mistake when I cast you to that dark place, Satan. And I’ve come to make things right by offering you a place in heaven, but I can only do that if you come with me now.’

  ‘Because you want my soul there at your side?’ Satan demanded. ‘Or because if I surrender my power to you in the name of love, you will once again be as strong as you were in the beginning?’

  God stared at her, bewildered. ‘You think I want your heart to fulfil some greedy purpose?’

  ‘You did not want it when you thought it would work against you,’ she pointed out. ‘So what’s left for me to assume, but that you only want my soul now, so that you can harvest the strength that I have cultivated from the seeds of your weakness?’

  God’s soul ached. ‘You’ve started believing your own lies. When I cast my negative qualities to that place, I became nothing but good! So it is unfounded that you would think that I would save you for any reason BUT to save you! I am love- YOU are hate! My motives can only be decent.’

  ‘Well, thanks to you- I lack the ability to take you at that word, and the last time we met, you did nothing to warrant my trust, did you? Perfect or not!’

  ‘I never said that a human had to equal me- only that they should strive to be for the sake of life! And it has taken me this long to regain enough power to return, because you have been hoarding so many souls to suit your own purposes!’ God growled, feeling dark, invisible fingers wrap a chill around his heart
as she worked her will to break him down. ‘You encouraged those ridiculous stories and rules with your propaganda-spreading cults, knowing that it would turn hearts against me!’

  ‘I never said a word or created any cult!’ Satan protested. ‘People saw what was done to me when I failed to emote you, and told others and formed their OWN religions. There is no punishment without a punisher, God, and that is a title you are known by just as readily as The Almighty! All I did was forgive people for being as weak as me, and then invited them to love me and be loved by me, if they could not believe that you would!’

  ‘You knew that I would love them anyway! But you stole their souls to fortify your power when originally it was your job to spread the truth!’

  ‘No one has ever learned my truth, God, and you should be grateful for that fact, because if they knew you killed an ill-treated, grieving mother for accidentally killing the child of a woman who taunted her and the man who had forsaken her, I would have been the martyr, and you know it!’

  God’s heart ached to be reminded that yes, he had brought this upon himself by not thinking things through, but he sighed and spread his wings, letting her see how undamaged and glorious they still were. ‘I am sick of debating this,’ God said sadly. ‘I know that I have wronged you, but it is only you who I have wronged, and the rest of the world should not be paying for that any more than you should have been made to suffer for an eternity. In the end, I encourage love and you cause pain, and I must stop you- even if it is my fault that you are the way you are.’

  ‘How have I caused more pain than you have?’ Satan demanded, her eyes wide with incredulity. ‘You’ve just spent three years burying people in rubble and taking all that they love from them! This world was not perfect before and yes, the human race has damaged it, but you COULD have used your return to heal it, only you chose to damage it further in the name of vengeance!’

  ‘Not for nothing! I have offered the human race sanctuary after this chaos is through, in a place where chaos is not possible, and where they can be with their loved ones again!’ God countered. ‘I have ended the war that you started and created a place where there is only peace! Lust does not exist in Heaven, nor does greed or selfishness and so there is no violence, paedophilia, no corruption and no starvation… no tinder to start one of your immoral hell fires with, so it is a blessed place!’

  ‘And in comparison, you assume that Hell is the torturous place that the humans have whispered about?’ she demanded.

  ‘Everything outside of Heaven feels like torture,’ God whispered, pressing a hand to his aching, pounding and weakening heart. He had to get away from her! ‘Especially Earth, so I do not want to even contemplate what Hell is like, if it is the earth you favour.’

  ‘Something you should have considered before banishing me there, so long ago,’ Satan rasped, ‘and leaving me to suffer in the hell fire that you lit and bound me to the pyre of for eternity! Can you blame me for giving myself human form to escape your negative energy? Can you fault me for trying to survive, or making the best out of the very worst?’

  ‘No, I cannot.’ God whispered. ‘But even if you can’t forgive me, Satan, I can still forgive you.’ He extended his shaking hand. ‘Give me your love, and you will enter Heaven and finish this war as a victor. I will purify your soul, and turn your feathers white once more. There will be no more suffering the worst of me- only the best, and at my side.’

  The humans and Miguel watched, holding their breath, as Satan studied God’s hand. She looked at him, smiled sadly and said: ‘No, father. I am sorry to say it, but I do not love you, and I cannot.’ She hugged her wings around herself and studied him with genuinely sorrowful eyes. ‘You rendered me incapable of that and now, you must co-exist with me as an equal.’

  God lowered his hand. ‘I could never agree to such an unfathomable request! And why should I? You’re choking on your power, but if you consent to love me, it will fortify Heaven for us all!’

  ‘Because I have no choice but to hate and distrust you!’ She snapped. ‘I am made up of fear and lust and greed and paranoia because of you! And I have no heart to give you, because you and Miguel shattered it! I am TRAPPED, God!’

  ‘Then we are at an impasse,’ God conceded with a regretful heart. ‘I understand what you are saying but surely, you know that I cannot allow the earth to exist, knowing that you will be here turning more hearts against me and leading them to suffer so that you can gain more power from it.’

  ‘I have never made anyone on earth suffer!’ she cried. ‘I have forgiven them for making others suffer, and I have made them atone for it after! Perhaps under my thumb, the human race could live as they do in Heaven on earth!’

  God felt a twinge of anger and offence as she continued to pull at every trace of pride and vanity that he had in this mortal body. ‘That is a ludicrous statement! Heaven is love, hell is hate and you do not have the power to reverse that, or the slightest comprehension of what Heaven is like!’ God turned to his beloved son. ‘Miguel, tell Satan what Heaven means to you, so that she knows what I am capable of creating, and that nothing that SHE could ever do would compare to that, please!’

  Miguel cleared his throat. ‘How should I do that, father, when I am too grieved by the prospect of leaving earth to consider returning to Heaven?’

  God whirled on him, enraged. ‘What?!’

  Miguel held out his hands. ‘I love this earth, sir. I love being a mortal. I agree that Heaven is a perfect, incomparable place but after so many centuries there, I have grown numb to it. I felt many wonderful things in Heaven- but alive was NOT one of them!’

  God could not contain his shock. ‘Are you saying that you would rather suffer here, than be at peace there?’

  ‘You once told me that being in Heaven felt almost exactly the same as being a pure form of energy,’ Miguel pointed out, and God stared at him, incredulous.

  ‘Yes! Yes that’s exactly right!’

  Miguel smiled sadly. ‘Then why did you feel the need to create the world, if you already felt a perfect sense of balance and energy as you were? Why did you desire to grant life and corporeal form, if they weren’t needed to feel harmonious?’

  ‘Because I wanted to share it with someone else, and that is what I have done! Now I can share something better with everyone!’

  ‘I don’t want what’s better- only what’s ours!’ Miguel turned and moved his family in front of him, holding them near and letting God see how much he loved them as they were- flawed, bitter and shell-shocked. ‘You created me in your image God, and though I will never cease to be thankful and grateful for that gift… I now want to create as you did, and here, and I want to share it with these individuals! I have started building a life for all of us and we are content and eager to live those lives out with grass between our feet and laughter in the air. And as much as you’ve ruined everything, we have enjoyed such simple, important pleasures every day here since we came.’

  ‘But you will feel the same thing in Heaven again as you always have!’ God raged. ‘Without any heartbreak or pain or sorrow or pollution or bloodshed-’

  ‘That doesn’t matter. Right now… I don’t-’ Miguel glanced over at the people behind him and they nodded in confirmation. ‘WE don’t want to give up our lives on earth any more than you would give up your Heaven.’ He cringed when God’s face turned a mottled red, but lifted his chin and said: ‘So if you insist on destroying the world that you’ve come to abhor, well, you may get control over the mortal coil, but you will not get my love!’

  Shocked, God glanced over at Satan and saw the quirk of her lips before she could hide it. ‘So to earn your love back, you want me to leave you here on earth so that SHE can corrupt you? No! I would sooner see you dead, then suffering eternal torment!’ He lifted his hand, feeling his eyes well with tears as the gravity of what he was about to do hit him. His words sounded so selfish but Heaven WOULD be enough for Miguel, and Miguel did love him still, God could feel it, so he’d make
it, wouldn’t he? But if he granted Miguel’s wish and left him there… he’d be a sitting duck for every vice that Satan could throw at him. ‘All of you! You may not love me, but I love you too much to let this world go on turning while she continues to influence it-’

  ‘It matters none to them!’ Miguel cried, hugging Gabriella and infant tightly to him while she pulled her daughter against her legs and began to weep. ‘They don’t love you God! They need to live longer and in harmony to get there, which they cannot do if you strike them down now! Only my son is young and pure enough to make it to Heaven with you, and if you take another child from me as Satan did I will HATE you from Hell!’

  God had tears rolling down his face as he looked at the beautiful infant. ‘Well, I’m very grieved to hear that Miguel,’ he swallowed back tears in his papery throat and lifted his hand so that they could all see the beam of light emanating from it, and all of the survivors shrank back in terror: ‘But at least your child will be safe in my love…’

  ‘No!’ Satan screamed and suddenly, she was flying forward and throwing her lithe body between Miguel and his family, and Heaven’s fury, and the world held its collective breath.

  -End of book Five-

  PART TWO

  10.

  July 1st AA644

  It had taken Kohén years, but he’d finally managed to convince his mother that I should be able to go to Pacifica with him on the grounds that Companions were often expected to travel, so me accompanying him across the ocean that July would be good ‘training’ for my future. She didn’t want me there and that was clear and probably only agreed because she hoped that I would fall overboard, but in the end she did agree on the condition that the other girls came along as well. Translation: No more special treatment for Larkin! And to be honest, I didn’t mind. The more of us there were, the more of us there would be to monitor and maybe I’d have a better opportunity to get Kohl alone so that we could talk openly and establish some ground rules.