Read To Reign in Hell: A Novel for Free Online

in a small area of the Eastern Regency. All alone, he cries in terror, but somehow the flux doesn’t find him.
    Satan is everywhere, laughing in the face of the flux throughout the vast Southern Regency. His emerald flashes upon his breast, and cacoastrum burns, turns upon itself, and is gone. He comes to the aid of his friend, Beelzebub, almost too late. Beelzebub holds himself together, taking a new, smaller form, but he survives. Everywhere that spirits are flagging and angels are near to giving in to the flux, Satan is there, and the fight is renewed.
    Yaweh is near the center, and from this distance, sees and directs all
—
for with the full power of illiaster present, his reach is all but endless. When, in the heat of battle, a structure is erected that ought to stand, he raises his sceptre and at that moment it becomes fixed.
    Lucifer holds a single position, near the wall of his Regency. His eyes are closed and his brow is furrowed. Around him trees are springing up. He occasionally makes remarks to Junier, who stands placidly at his side, oblivious to the chaos around them, calmly noting discoveries that Lucifer makes, to think upon later.
    Like the universe, the Third Wave seems to go on forever. But, like the universe, it doesn’t.
     
     
    “Tell me this,” said Lucifer. “How would you feel—are you listening?”
    “Eh? Oh. Sorry.”
    “How would you feel,” Lucifer continued, “if the Fourth Wave
did
come, and half of our new brethren—or more—were destroyed, and you knew you could have prevented it? By my figuring, that is just what will happen if we don’t accept the Plan. How would you feel then?”
    Satan studied the rushing waters at his feet. “I don’t know.”
    “It’s worth thinking about.”
    “You don’t have any doubts at all, do you?”
    “Not of that kind. I have knowledge; that implies a duty to use it. But let me ask you—have you spoken to Yaweh about this? It seems to be the next step, if you’re still unconvinced.”
    “I suppose it is. But it was Yaweh who first had these doubts, and I tried to reassure him. If I’m wrong, Yaweh is the last one I shouldtalk to; I’ll just shake his confidence in the Plan, without getting any closer to having my questions answered.”
    “I see the problem,” Lucifer admitted. “But what else can you do?”
    Satan shook his head without answering. After a few minutes, he stood up and began walking back upstream, his eyes on the waters, his feet kicking small waves up onto the banks.
    Beelzebub watched him, then nodded to Lilith and Lucifer.
    “Dost thou know—”
    “I understand,” said Lilith. “It’s all right.”
    Beelzebub ran to catch up. Satan continued walking, occasionally shaking his head. At length, he cursed softly and tossed the stick ahead of him. Beelzebub wondered at his sudden desire to chase it.

TWO
    I, who am called of men, The Beast, or The Master, or, The
Supreme and Holy King, or The High Priest, and again the Black
Maker of Magick, or The Betrayer of Oaths . . . am in Thy sight
none of these.
    —Aleister Crowley,
    The Magical Record of the Beast
     
    The sneer, walking up the steps to Yaweh’s Palace, met the smirk coming down. Icy blue eyes locked with frigid black ones. The sneer noticed the crooked grin noticing the sneer noticing the amused contempt noticing the haughty disgust noticing the—
    “Mephistopheles,” said the sneer.
    “Abdiel,” said the smirk.
    “I hope all goes well.”
    “All goes, Abdiel.”
    “What is this fascination of yours with black?”
    “What is this fascination of yours with rude questions?”
    “I don’t think it was rude. I was just curious.”
    Shrug.
    “Are you traveling again, Mephistopheles?”
    “Perhaps. Are you out saving Heaven, as usual?”
    “What?”
    “Never mind.”
    Mephistopheles brushed past the sneer, not quite knocking into him. Abdiel, not deigning to look around, proceeded up into the palace.
    “Page!”
he called.
    “Yes,