There is a theory that there has been fanfiction about just about everything, and I intend to prove it. Herewith, a short piece I wrote based on Milton’s Paradise Lost.

 

The Way To Hell

 

from sence of injur’d merit,
That with the mightiest rais’d me to contend,
And to the fierce contention brought along
Innumerable force of Spirits arm’d
That durst dislike his reign…
/the Tyranny of Heav’n

And did he believe these words, Satan? Did he beilieve the sentiments that took him crashing from Angel to Devil; the Fallen Angel who fell furthest, fastest? Or was he seduced by his own rhetoric, made dizzy by the effect his speeches had on his fellows? Was it the heady taste of power which brought about his downfall?

Power – corruption – pride – greed.

He accused God of his own failings, as mortal man so often does in his stead, preferring to fault another rather than examine his own conscience. And others flocked to his banner, persuaded by their own vices – jealousy, anger, covetousness. And he chose to challenge that greatest of authorities, the Almighty Lord, because his pride would not allow subservience.

But once – once, surely, he believed in what he said; before his ideas became twisted and perverted by his untrammelled ambition. Once, he was an Angel of all things good.

Truly the way to Hell is paved with good intentions.