“That you will burn eternally?It does.”
“Does it make you feel better to believe I was the one had those men rape and kill you?”Tadeo’s blood froze, breath stopped.“Would it comfort you to believe that I was the one who had your father kidnapped and strung up, that I was even the one who gave your mother the stroke, that I was the one who ordered every massacre, every torture?Will it absolve them all?Would you forgive them?Would you be able to sleep at night believing that it is all the devil, that none of this is purely man?”
‘God.’Tadeo was trembling again, but he shook his head weakly, his mouth opening, closing.
“Satan,” Dina said slowly.“You will be thrown in the lake of fire.It is too late now to save yourself.”He felt his star soothing him, encouraging his rage.
“We will save the world,” Tadeo added, his voice still shaking.“Dina was sent to me by God to save humanity, and we will do it.There is nothing you can do.”
Humming, the devil took a step closer, then another, then another.Tadeo, tepidly, lifted his eyes and had to suppress a shudder.When Satan had disguised himself as a priest, Tadeo had caught glimpses of beauty behind a terribly mundane face of false blemishes and too-perfect imperfections, but now he saw all that hidden loveliness without anywhere to hide.And he was catching glimpses of horror now, utter ugliness, grotesque redness at the edges.“Tadeo,” Satan cooed.“Tadeo, Tadeo.But don’t you… want to destroy the world?Don’t you see how it has hurt you?”
“What?”left Tadeo’s mouth before he could stop it, inflected somewhere between humor and disbelief and ‘let it not be’ fear.
“I asked if it made you feel better to tell yourself that I’m responsible for what happened to your parents, your home, and you.You didn’t answer.”Satan stopped, now just slightly out of arms’ reach.“It’s because you know that it doesn’t.It isn’t your fault.You’ve been taught all your life that there must be some scapegoat behind the actions of evil throughout history.You’ve been made to believe there is a devil, one who exists to tempt you to evil, rather than confronting that maybe it is all human nature.Maybe it is man who hurts man, mothers who hurt daughters, neighbors who kill neighbors.”
Tadeo swallowed, shook his head again.“Do you think I’ll ever be stupid enough to listen to what you have to say?”
“I wasn’t there, Tadeo, when you died.I tempted no one.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Dina whispered.“Don’t listen to a word he says.Do not trust him.Do not believe him...”
Satan said, “I did not destroy your life, Tadeo.It was men who killed you.It was men who killed your father.It’s men who killed the world you were promised as a child.And you know it.It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve read the Bible.In your heart, you know the truth.And look for yourself.”He lifted one hand to gesture to their surroundings how Tadeo had done.“Look around you.”His words echoed Tadeo’s own earlier, down to the cadence; the young man shivered.“You have tried to make yourself a saint, but it has not saved anyone.You don’t even realize how much worse it’s going to get.And you tried to save them all, Tadeo.You tried to save them, but only God saves, and there is no hope.”
“That isn’t true,” Tadeo tried to say.“I’ve done nothing wrong— I’ve tried to just end this war!”
“You want to be a saint, but God needs a sinner,” Satan told him.“Do you know why you are the way that you are, Tadeo?Do you really believe it was God that resurrected you into a beast?”Again, Tadeo’s blood was cooling, and he wanted to cover his ears now, to beg Satan to stop speaking, to let him believe what he wanted.Even if it was a lie, it was the only thing he could bear.“Hasn’t Dina told you?”
“Satan,” the angel said, his voice attempting to sharpen only to break.
“You’re,” said the devil, “the anti-Christ.”Tadeo blinked.“Of your beloved Revelation.”Slow, Satan’s lip curled back, revealed a cruel, bright smile.“You are the destroyer of Earth.You are no more than a false prophet, so false that you’ve even misled yourself.Even if this angel is trying to set you on a path to help the world, you can’t deny what you are.”
Tadeo breathed: “You’re lying.”But he could hardly hear Satan, his face twitching, his entire body leaning away.He was hardly thinking, only feeling.Confusion, bewilderment.“You’re wrong.”There was a sudden churn in his stomach however, like it was attached to a gear.
Satan laughed in his face.“Do you think God turns anyone into a beast?Do you think God would make something as awful as what you become?”Desperately, Tadeo turned to Dina but his brown skin was a shade too pale and his eyes were wide, almost bloodshot in what might’ve been terror, perhaps fury at the devil; the angel, however, wasn’t negating Satan’s words.“You know the truth, Tadeo.You can’t argue.You’re the anti-Christ.You’re the Beast.You are the end times.”
“I’m not!”Tadeo shouted helplessly.“I’m no anti-Christ!You’re a liar, Satan!I’ve only done good, all in the name of God?—”
“What does it matter if you do it in His name?God has a plan for you; do you think you can fight it?”
“You’re tempting me,” Tadeo spat, but he was shaking again, wanting to run, his skin hurting like it was pulled too tight over his muscles.‘The thing in me.The beast.It wants to tear out of me.’His breath nearly hitched.‘No, it’s not a beast!It’s not a beast!I’m no beast!’“Like you did to Jesus in the desert!”
“The anti-Christ compares himself to Jesus,” Satan teased.“That is in Revelation too, isn’t it?”
“Don’t quote the scripture at me!”Tadeo snarled, this time a guttural rasp slipping between the syllables of a deeper, monstrous voice that was not his own, was not Tadeo.A beast, a beast.Immediately, the human slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes almost bulging out.‘No.’His back stung, and he could feel his skin knotting up at the back of his ribs, the sensation bringing a grimace to an already pained back.
“Oh,” Satan continued to giggle, “of course.The scripture is only correct when the right person says it, isn’t it?Some interpretations are wrong, some are right.God never says which.God is always silent.Even when you were mutilated, murdered, He did not say a word to you.He does not care about you.He does not love you.And you know that too, you know that as well as you do that I’m not responsible for your suffering.This world is utter rot, and it is because of men, and God knows to end it as well as I do.He has chosen you to be the apocalypse.”
Dina tried to speak: “Satan, leave us!Or I will call upon God and all the archangels.I will have them throw you into the lake of fire!”
“With the boy?”Satan answered, voice as serene and light as it must’ve sounded in Heaven.“That would be lovely, wouldn’t it?Me and my child— burning together.”
This time, the angel drew a sharp breath, one then both of his feet staggering to bring him backward some steps.“What?”he breathed.“Child?”Quick, Dina flickered his gaze to the boy standing beside his horse, his eyes wide, lips parted.“That isn’t true.”‘Apsinthos,’ he helplessly called.‘That isn’t true, is it?’But now the star was silent, and the stare of Tadeo was endless, digging into itself like nail pressing into a wound.
Satan didn’t address the angel.“Tadeo, come with me.”The boy could only continue to stare.“No one knows your rage like I do, and I’m the only one who can help you destroy this place for good.It’s what you want.How long will you allow this angel to deceive you?How long will you be the lapdog for those who are using you for their own gain?The people here have abandoned you, tortured you, scorned you.That angel is using you to gain the favor of his Lord, not because he cares for this world or for you.”
“That’s not true!”Dina hissed, shock fading to anger once more.“You’re the deceiver!”
“Come with me,” Satan said once more, “Tadeo.”
