Lucifer's Fire

The Anqa began as the perfect creation from God. However, along the way it became a plague upon man, and eventually the mysterious bird was killed. Or so the myth is told. The True Story of Anqa… Everyone knows the infamous tale of the first sin, or at least they think they do. Truth in history can be elusive, keeping many secrets hidden in her depths. You see, the garden had not been the only thing lost that day. In the time before the great temptation Adam and Eve had a child. A perfect daughter named Anqa. Of all the creatures in the garden none loved Anqa more than the phoenix. When Adam and Eve ate the apple, the phoenix quickly fed the girl until she couldn’t eat anymore. By the time Adam and Eve gave Anqa the forbidden fruit she had already eaten so much she could not take even one bite.  God soon discovered the misdeed and exiled all that had eaten the fruit. Adam and Eve wept knowing they would never see their perfect daughter again. In an act of mercy God erased all memory of Anqa. They left Eden with no recollection of their daughter. The beasts followed after until only Anqa and the phoenix remained. Anqa grew into a beautiful woman. Happy and perfect in every way. However, as time wore on she began to feel as if something were missing. Worried that she might be falling to sin, Anqa told the phoenix of the emptiness she felt growing inside her. The phoenix reassured Anqa that her feelings were pure. She had been made to love another like her, but she needed to leave Eden to find them. Anqa felt torn. She wanted to be complete, but didn’t want to lose her home and the phoenix. God, sensing her struggle, came down and comforted Anqa. He told her that as long as she remained free of sin Eden would remain on Earth to come back to anytime she desired.  Knowing that she could come back, Anqa said her goodbyes. The phoenix wrapped its wings around her and bestowed a parting gift upon her, a piece of its heart so they would always be connected. Feeling the phoenix’s presence inside her she ventured out of the garden and into the world of man. The moment Anqa’s foot stepped outside the gates Lucifer felt it. He had fantasized about this day since Anqa had escaped his temptation. The child that had gotten away had become a woman. A woman no longer protected in the garden and free to fall into sin. He watched her and waited for the right opportunity. Time moved differently in the garden of Eden. In the years it took for Anqa to grow, thousands had passed outside the garden. Many towns and cities now filled the Earth. Because man’s soul had been corrupted by sin, Anqa and her perfection became a lusted after obsession everywhere she went. Violence and bloodshed plagued the once warm and peaceful villages as each man tried to stake his claim on Anqa, until wars waged across the land.  One day Anqa stopped to rest in a field of flowers, unaware of the lustful eyes watching her. They watched as a young boy brought her a flower. Envy and rage filled the watcher and he attacked the innocent hearted child. Anqa cried out in anguish, tapping into the phoenix’s essence. Flames erupted between the bloodied boy and his attacker. Enraged the man quickly declared Anqa a witch and decreed she would be burned at the stake. The devil seized his opportunity. Posing as one of the guards, he offered her life if she would come with him and worship ONLY him. Anqa refused. As they approached the stake he told Anqa that the boy’s fate rested in her hands. He would live if she went back to the garden and ate from the forbidden tree, if she refused he would die. Anqa new Lucifer’s true identity then and knew she could not accept. Her heart broke as she sealed the boy’s fate. The Phoenix, sensing Anqa’s heart break, flew to her aid. Just as the fire had been about to be lit the Phoenix swooped in and wrapped Anqa in its wings, lighting its funeral pyre for the last time. It transferred its life to hers so that she may be reborn. Feeling all of the phoenix’s essence flow into her Anqa’s soul shattered as she began to cry.  The embers carried her soul towards the sky. Lucifer watched as the embers carried her soul to become apart of the sky. He cursed the pieces, saying that each would meet a fiery end. He would collect them all at their death and keep them until she gave into his temptation. Eden disappeared from the earth, and with it all memory of who she had been. The sky opened its arms, welcoming the pieces of her soul to shine amongst the stars until the time when a piece would be reborn. Each piece apart of another soul, trying to find the one that would complete them, for only that would break the devil’s curse. But each rebirth met with the same fiery end  until only one remained...