A conversation with the Devil - Mischa

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”

“What is it, my child?”

“I’m afraid I have let you down. I am hanging up my robes.”

“What? To what end? For what purpose?”

“I fear the truth is near. I am aged now, and not fit to face the flames of fury we have helped create.”

“I admire your courage, but I despise your insolence. You were chosen, and you were chosen by me. It is I who decides your fate – not you.”

“I understand and respect that, my Lord, but you are outside of this realm. If I may be so bold as to say, you are unaware of the pressure mounting here in this world. I fear that the truth is on the verge of unravelling.”

“I control the truth. It is in my hands. And so, the power is in my hands. Your mortal soul has no right, no reason, to defy me.”

“But we are weakened now. Vulnerable. The newspapers…they know things. They are making connections. It won’t be long until the veil is lifted.”

“Silence! You think, by stepping down, you will better keep the status quo? You think that to break the mould for the first time in 600 years and step down will silence those suspicions?”

“I…”

“You are not thinking.”

“My conscience will not let me.”

“You do not have a conscience. You are a man of God, remember. Which means you are a man of nothing. You merely pretend. You are one of mine.”

“I cannot…”

“Need I remind you of our pact?”

“…”

“That you shall serve the Lord until your death, until I deem that you may rest.”

“My Lord. The world we live in has become increasingly Godless, as has that of the Vatican. I can no longer pretend to serve a benevolent Being, when there are no acts of benevolence. We are horrors by our very nature – by Your very nature. We have let the mask slip, we have proved Nietzsche right, to our own detriment. Without the allusion of God, there is no need for us. We have, if you’ll forgive me, my Lord, forgotten that. Pure evil cannot exist alone. It needs purpose. I – and the Vatican – need reason to exist. If we are being accused of evil, then we have failed, for the world shall see our evil and rebel against it. It has begun already. Surely you must see that?”

“How dare you instruct me! How dare you correct me! Ekron shall wreak its vengeance on you, for that city, which once I ruled as now I rule here. The world is mine – how dare you reject that which made it, and that which made you. Know, from the moment you abscond, you shall know the true wrath of Beelzebub. You have one last chance, so answer now with your truth – do you repent?”

“I do not, my Lord. I do not.”