Most people can handle physical roller coasters. Mental ones are more challenging but they survive them as well. And although it might not seem it at the time a person usually has the tools to deal with emotional roller coasters too.
But when core beliefs are challenged in this way they begin to act much less like the rubber bands they seem and more like the metal they are; fatigue sets in quickly and they shows signs of stress, of breaking, of shattering into two.
Declan was swimming in a tangled mess of his beliefs. Only a few hours ago he had achieved such a state of glory on the arrival of the Supreme Being, a high unshaken by the rather daunting fact that She turned out not to be God but the Devil. But now he was wallowing in an endless sea of self doubt the likes of which he felt he could never recover from.
Lucy, Lucifer for long, detailed for Daniel and himself the long history of her struggle, a discourse he was able to endure only because of her similarity to every betrayed woman, single mother, or rejected lover that had ever sought his solace.
What he had, in others, described as prattle made the extraordinary surroundings of the events as normal as a morning stroll. Yet the context of those events shook him to his core.
Lucy spoke of coming into being, one of many, around Him. She spoke of her joining Him, helping in the creation, of the sense of equality, of learning from Him.
She had joined Him before there was Adam, before there was even the thought of Adam, or so she believed and she spoke of her surprise at His revelation.
She grew heated at first, almost sounding jealous that He would want to add to their own, that He would even consider this but as she spoke she took on the edge of His excitement, at the glory of it all. His vision was to make of True-Mass, of flesh and blood, that which would ascend and join Them and from them They could expand themselves.
She had not understood at first, none of them did and there was must concern over upsetting the balance of what was but He persisted, indeed He never needed their consent anyway.
He knew all but when Adam came she saw in him the flaw, perfection failed to yield their expectations and indeed it became painfully obvious it never could. And Adam was passionless, listless as he moved about without purpose except for the child's delight in the newness of everything.
She suggested Eve and He saw the truth in it, almost as if He had been thinking the same thing and so she was brought forth in glory from Adam's rib, less as the metaphysical and more as the genetic trace but she too was unwhole and very soon unhappy.
She saw the need, the yearning, the passionless core eating at them but He would hear none of it because it was not in His plan of perfection, it was not in his plan for them.
But what purpose these beings, of physical form, yet denied physical exploration? They were told there was hidden knowledge but they were forbidden to know of it and more so to experience it. Indeed everywhere they turned they were warned of giving into those fruits.
She could see they would stagnate and their yield wouldn't come. He assured Her it was His plan and He could control it thus but as She walked around their garden and spoke with them the looks of sadness seemed boundless and She hurt for them.
A special bond had grown between Him and Adam and when she decided to take things into her own hands. Adam was too reluctant; too concerned about His reaction for indeed He had been very clear about keeping their distance. The Maker was to know more than the Made and the Made would have to come to this knowledge on his own.
This grew frustrating for Lucy as she knew they wouldn't come to knowledge which had been denied them, not on their own, they didn't have the concept. She walked away from Adam in anger leaving behind a very scared little boy of a man. She walked away from Adam and sat at the far end of the garden and would probably have remained there had not Eve come along.
Are you alright? She said, nervous like a doe in spring. Her eyes were like clear ponds, pure and watery. Lucy saw her and saw in her much similarity, for indeed it became clear to Her that Eve's form had been patterned on Her own.
There is much we want you to know but we differ in how we believe you will come to this knowledge. There was no other way to put it; She knew that even as Eve's expression reflected uncertainty. In time you will have the knowledge anyway.
What knowledge?
At that moment Lucy knew she couldn't just explain it away, the moment she began she knew that Eve would instinctively bolt as Adam had done.
Instead what She decided to do was motion her to sit with Her, closer, move closer to her and then half turn to her. At this point, had She been of True-mass then, She would have smelled Eve and when Her hand came up She would have felt her but that was not to be for the Garden was like a projections to Them. Not so to the Made.
From Eve's place there was no difference between herself and Lucy and in trust Eve closed her eyes as Lucy's fingers ran up her arm and across to her neck. As Lucy's lips tenderly moved on Eve's neck she cringed and pulled away looking at her in fear.
It's called pleasure, Eve. If you close your eyes and let the feelings wash over you then you will get a sense what it is to be Us. It was a lie but Lucy could see the look of curiosity on Eve's face, she could sense the growing hunger.
Eve half turned to Lucy, matching Her and closed her eyes leaning in as Lucy returned to what She had started. Her lips came over Eve's and they kissed, gentle pressing at first. Eve's eyes screwed up tight as the new sensations were planted in her.
As Lucy opened her mouth Eve followed and soon their tongues were playing, softly swiping across the tips, flicking and swirling moments later. Lucy's hands came up to steady Eve's head as She continued and their embrace lasted.
Guiding Her charge on her back Lucy's hands began to slide across the virginal form beneath Her, the large aureoles grew at Her touch and hardened at Her attention. She kneeled and Her hair slid across Eve's abdomen as Her lips moved to the nipples.
She sucked and Eve grew tense, her back arching, her breathing reduced to short gasps, her hands instinctively coming up. Lucy swirled her tongue around the nipple and then pressed the nipple in deep, which brought forth a deep moan and sharp breath.
Lucy slid Her hand down Eve's body, sliding it between Her charge's legs and up the inner thighs to moans of delight. As Her fingers slide across her smooth vagina Eve gasped, both arms coming down on either side of her as she tried to sit up.
What's wrong?
I don't know.
Relax, Eve. That was supposed to happen. That's pleasure. Experience it.
But it's so
much.
Intense.
Yes. Intense. It's so intense.
It is as it is supposed to be. Lay back and you will see heaven.
Declan raised his hand. He'd heard enough.
You corrupted Eve?
I liberated her.
You had sex with Eve and she enjoyed it and then she initiated that with Adam and he enjoyed it and then God kicked them out of Eden, condemning them to eternal suffering?
No!
No?
No. Declan, you haven't been condemned to eternal suffering. You began the journey to join God as one of us, maybe even as His equal.
Because of sex?
No. Sex. Lovemaking. Whatever you want to call it. It is the beginning of knowledge. It allows you mere mortals to create life. Generation upon Generation grows, evolves, and advances. Eventually you will reach new consciousness.
"Eventually you may bridge the chasm between True-Mass and Ether-Realm. Eventually you may join the Creator.
What about the Apple? It was Daniel. He was too literal.
What?
The Apple. I thought that's what got Adam and Eve kicked out Eden, eating the Apple from the Tree of Knowledge.
It was never about fruit, Daniel. Even Declan knew that, they'd known that from the first days of Seminary. The forbidden fruit, the expulsion from Eden, it was always about knowledge. It was understood. But knowledge of what, sex? Declan had heard the argument but he still couldn't imagine.
But? Daniel was lost now.
You can't just stand up in church on Sunday and begin to talk about fornication. Not directly, ergo the 'fruit' of the 'tree of knowledge' as in 'how to make new life'.
Oh my God! Declan turned back to Lucy.
And you led them out of Eden?
Hardly, but I sped up the process by a few thousand millennia. It wasn't the first time. Do you know what He had planned after Dinosaurs?
Daniel again, he'd always loved dinosaurs. No, what?
Lucy couldn't figure out what to call them, she struggled for the word then waved her arms in the air. Well, it wasn't mammals, that's for sure. If I had waited you'd just now be getting pubic hair.
Neither of them understood that. Lucy just looked at them in disbelief. How blind are you guys? Pointing to her own hairless box with both hands she looked at them while they tried to look anywhere else.
Pubic hairs are the curse of your knowledge. Children don't have them because they're pure, innocent. You get them as you enter adulthood, as you mature physically, as your body becomes able to reproduce life. You get them as the desire builds in you, as you become hungry for sensual pleasure, as you crave to follow my lead.
She sat down and quietly said, You get them because of me. It was the closest thing she'd ever come to a confession and she began to cry because of it.
