Eve of the Gods--NaNo 2011-12 Prep

October 30: Outline the 5th and DONE!

Evelyn Sinclair is working at a Barnes and Noble-esque bookstore--in the cafe, actually--and her life isn't going so well. Not to sound cliche, it's not horrible, life isn't treating her like crap or anything, it's just annoyingly normal. Nothing really exciting seems to happen, or even about to happen. Or even going to happen in the distant future, as Lyn has never planned to do much. Her dream is to one day own her own bookstore/cafe, but secretly, she knows that this is just a cop out; it's more a reaction to the problems she has with her job than any real passion for the book and cafe business, or even business in general. Even though her whole family is immensely successful, whether professors or doctors (even a relatively well-known artist sister, who carves sculptures out of old hubcaps and license plates), she...hasn't been.

This is not to say that Lyn is without ambition or without spirit. On the contrary, she is full of fire and intelligence and wit. The problem is that she doesn't know what she wants--every time she thinks about it, this overwhelming sense of bigness, of things beyond her understanding, of power and memory and...depth just overcomes her. She cannot begin to understand what she wants because she wants so much. But at the same time, she doesn't understand these feelings because the understanding of them is part of their overwhelming depth. What she does know, however, is that she feels like a woman out of her own time. She is more comfortable with characters in books and people from history than with the people of her time. Her politics, her interests, her very being seems as a person who belongs not somewhere, but some WHEN else.

One day, while working at the cafe in her bookstore, Lyn is approached by a man who calls her Eve and says he needs her help. It turns out that he is Hermes, the Greek Messenger god, and chosen emissary of the Lesser Courts, those deities and entities that owe their existence to human belief (see the concept of Tulpa or thoughtform). After a necessary freak out and deal-with-it period--which doesn't last long--Eve agrees to help him, feeling as though something within her (the part that she just doesn't understand) is driving her to do this.

Turns out that the gods are in danger. Someone is planning to do something that would undo their existence by severing them from human belief. As gods, being of pure soul and no flesh, death is not merely death, it is obliteration. It is complete nothingness, as if they had never existed in all of history. This is an entity that has been around for a long time, and whom the gods have kept their eye on, but until now, his actions have been mostly to glorify himself and destroy his enemies. And then he disappeared for a long time. Now it seems that he is back and has changed tactics-- he wants to undo the curse God put on him. The Eye of the Fates (the Greek Fates, yeah?) has sensed that his new plan will be of great danger to the gods, but they can neither find him, nor can they See what his plan may be.

Besides undoing the gods, this plan would likely have other, greater consequences. By undoing the curse of God, it is quite likely that all of existence (humanity, the animals, the Lesser Courts, etc) would cease to be. So Hermes has recruited Lyn to save them all. But why? Well, that she isn't allowed to know. Her ignorance is also her greatest tool; it is what is keeping her safe. But Hermes extorts her to look deep inside, to feel the unknowable part of her, and he explains that this is God's gift to her. She--and she alone--will be able to stop this from happening. This the Fates have seen (they were how Hermes found her--the block on the Cursed one does not extend to Lyn).

The gods can't really do anything themselves. Their only move was to find Lyn, whom they knew could help, but not how. But Lyn has no idea what's going on except that the Greek Messenger God has befriended her and asked for her help. Hermes realizes that they are going to need more help--someone else who was involved in everything from the beginning and is not limited by mortality or belief. Hermes just wants to save himself and his fellow Lesser Entities, so his role is mostly to recruit Lyn (and be a friend and ally) and someone else with the pull to help get things rolling.

Hermes takes her to meet the one entity who can help. The Lesser Courts are not all that powerful these days (the Hindi court being the exception, with their Brahma being so close God, for one, and their belief center still going strong), and they can only barely save up enough power to spend time on Earth for short periods. In fact, many of the lesser gods gave up most of their power to help Hermes spend so much time in the human world. The Greater Courts (the Angels and Demons, the Holy Spirit, Jesus and his posse, God, and Mother Earth) are not really supposed to (or choose not to) interfere with human Free Will, because God is a wait-and-see kinda guy. There is, however, one entity whose personal history is just convoluted enough to free him from this whole thing: Lucifer. Who spends most of his time on an uncharted island in the Atlantic.

Lucifer is initially reticent to get involved, but Lyn (whom both entities insist on calling Eve) convinces him, though not really though any effort of her own. Her presence, her innocence he says, convinces him to help, but Lucifer doesn't actually tell her why except to say, "You and I, child, we are a lot more alike than you may think." Lyn doesn't trust him much--he is the Father of Lies and the Great Evil, after all--but Hermes insists that he is the only one who can help, and that he really isn't what Lyn thinks he is. His past is quite convoluted, and not much like what most people think. And actually, over the next couple of days, Lyn begins to see that Lucifer is not the evil, vile, lying creature most people think he is. He actually seems to be sick over what goes down in Hell, and dreads needing to go down there to "recharge" so to speak. Good-looking, sensitive, intelligent, and (most of all) interested in Lyn, Lyn finds herself falling for him, much to her own surprise.

Lucifer, called Lucien, takes them to Conrad Amitage Inc. He has located the being in question, something the Lesser Courts cannot do because of their lack of power and limitations as creatures of Tulpa (as I said earlier), and found his base of operations. Conrad has gone into the business of artifacts and archaeology, fronting as an expedition company for wannabe Indiana Joneses (speaking for myself, I totally would go on one of Conrad's expeditions) and rich people. Using the considerable resources he possesses, Lucifer brings Lyn (who has actually started thinking of herself as Eve now) and Hermes to London, where Amitage is based. Eve and the two entities go to confront Amitage, though Hermes and Lucien both insist that Eve say nothing and stay back. Actually, they wanted to leave Eve behind on Lucien's island home, but she insisted that she accompany them or she wouldn't help anymore ("You can't ask me for my help and then leave me out of it! I am not an accessory to be worn and then tossed aside!"), so they reluctantly bring her along provided that she stay out of the way for her own safety. They need to know his plan before they can do anything about it (they can't just kill him because of his curse), and Eve is not ready to handle him. Overcome by curiosity, however, Eve follows the 'men' into the building and hides, watching the confrontation.

Upon seeing Conrad, however, and hearing his voice, Eve is shaken to her very core as the unknowable thing within her begins to stir. Lust, fear, anger, rage, wonder, loss, love...all of these feelings overwhelm her. She cries out and Conrad sees her, instantly knowing who and what she is. What follows is a scene where Eve comes to learn what the thing inside her is and who Conrad actually is. Upon knowing, his plan rushes into her mind (they are ridiculously connected for the reason that I can't reveal unless the big twist ending--actually middle--is revealed) and whom he is working for (but not her identity). (Brief POV interludes will introduce us, but not reveal to us, this character that Conrad plans on working with to complete his plan.) Overwhelmed by this knowledge, but without the complete understanding of it, she runs from the building and away from Lucifer and Hermes, too terrified to continue helping them. She hides for several days, ashamed of her feelings for Lucifer, angry at trusting Hermes (and with Hermes for seemingly lying to her), and brooding...until she runs into another entity. The Norse god Loki, who in a rare showing of sobriety and truth (he's the god of chaos, not of evil, after all, and he would cease to exist, too), sits and has coffee with her. Mostly they talk about people and gods, nothing about what Eve is going through. He mentions that he wanted to talk to her (the her that I can't tell you about) and found her via Odin's Eye. This reminds Eve that Lucifer and Hermes could have found her at any time, but have respected her fear and left her alone. Which in turn leads her to think about what Hermes said about undoing God's decree. While Conrad's plan sounds great and awesome and something that people should want, it completely goes against what God said. Grace must be earned, not stolen, she thinks, and then asks Loki to help her find Hermes.

Loki shakes his head and points. Across the street is Lucien, who has just appeared from crossing through the Twilight (the Gods' realm) to where she and Loki were sitting. Eve, surprised at her joy at seeing him, jumps up and runs to Lucien, throwing herself into his arms. He takes her back to where he and Hermes were staying (mostly he, as Hermes had had to return to the Twilight to gather some power) and explains everything to her from the beginning through to now. He was the Snake in the Garden, yes, an unknown and unnamed entity with an ability to weave words and twist truths to suit his needs. God approached him to test humanity, knowing it was a test they would both pass and fail. Humanity was not meant to stay in the Garden forever, Lucien says, so God gave them a test He knew would end in their expulsion from Eden. It was cruel, but necessary, Lucien explains, though to be the two beings sacrificed for the good of humanity must not feel great. In the case of one, God granted a clemency--forgetfulness, so that her punishment would be easier to bear. The other, cursed with remembrance, went insane and began to flout the Will of God. (I'm sure you've figured out who Conrad and Lyn are, then?) As far as the snake, the insanity of the one led him to seek out others to share his misery. He garnered power for himself in the Church of the Son and convinced them that the Morning Star, hitherto believed to be the King of Babylon, meant Satan and Satan was one with the Snake of Eden. Thus this being, unnamed and innocent, became at once Lucifer and a King of Hell. The true Satan, the demon Sammael, continued his duties, but Lucifer found it necessary to enter Hell every so often to recharge. He loathed what happened in Hell, for no one really needed to go to Hell (only those who believe they are going to Hell actually go there) and abhorred the suffering to be found within. Thus he spent most of the last two thousand years hiding from Hell and living in suffering.

Then he met Lyn, who reminded him that his suffering was not the only to be had. She, too, had been mercilessly affected by the Remember-er, her lives lived alone and, often, horribly due to human belief in her greater sin, all caused by Adam's hatred and inability to accept his own guilt. Always arrogant, he believed himself to be a superior being, God's first human, and refused to believe that Eve should have been punished less than he though she ate of the apple first. And Lyn, Eve reborn and Adam's greatest victim, caused him to realize that he could not sit back and allow Adam to continually flaunt God's law and cause further harm. He had loved Eve all those years ago, and he loved her still, embodied now in a beautiful woman named Evelyn Sinclair. That was the reason he had chosen to help her against God's wishes, because Adam had gotten away with too much over the years and God refused to intervene in mortal affairs any longer. He loved her then and he loves her now, and she nearly broke his heart when she ran off thinking ill of him. Eve kisses him, not really knowing what she's doing, but Lucien shows her how to do it. Eve and he have a romantic sexy-tiems scene. YAY! Adam's victims get together! YAY! Down with Adam!

Hermes returns and finds the two together, but he is actually pretty cool with it, considering. Of course, his people had often had affairs with mortals and Hermes' own mother was a mortal, so he can't really say anything. He comes back, however, saying that the Eye of the Fates now knows Adam's plan. Lyn mentions that she knows the plan now, too; it appeared in her mind as Conrad was gloating over knowing who she was. Since Eve was made of Adam's rib, she is still connected to Adam and, thus, their acknowledgment of one another in the same place allowed her to know the plan. Adam has long tried to push his own curse onto others by taking advantage of tulpa, the same concept that allows the lesser courts to exist, and forcing Lucifer and Eve to bear the weight of his supposedly undeserved punishment. He has since realized that this is not true and will not work, so he has changed tactics. Instead of pushing his punishment off on other people, he wants to undo it completely. He wants to forcibly return all of humanity to a state of grace, bringing them all back to Eden (not the literal garden, but the state of the world). This would mean he and Eve never chose to eat the apple and would, thus, end their punishment. Lyn ran upon learning this because she thought that sounded good--why wouldn't humanity want to return to the Garden of Eden, where everything was easy and good and without sin? Then Loki made her remember that everything was all about choice and Free Will, the greatest gift that God had given humanity. Back when Adam and Eve were humanity, they could make the decision, but no longer. Adam could not force all of humanity to give up their Free Will and return to Eden. Which is why she came back to the both of them. Adam was Eve's responsibility.

Lucifer and Hermes want to know how Adam plans to enact his plan, but Lyn reveals that she's not sure. He has an ally, but this ally remains in shadow so Lyn doesn't know who she is, just that she's a she. And this plan hinges upon a knowledge that this ally possesses, which is why Conrad Amitage Inc exists. Adam is searching for a particular time and place, a time and place perfect for the transfer of this knowledge, which Adam would then use to enact his plan. Whatever this knowledge is, it is earthshaking and it must be, since it's probably going to cause the end of the world. Lyn reveals that the date Adam needs to find this place by is the equinox, two weeks away, but she doesn't know where this place is because Adam isn't, either. Lucifer and Hermes both dispatch friends and underlings to keep an eye on Conrad Amitage just in case he moves. Then they set down to wait. Eve and Lucifer come to terms with their new found relationship, which Eve is having problems doing because she keeps remember that she's going to die and he never is. And every time she dies, she's going to forget him and he isn't...'cause God is not likely to undo the punishment. Which begs the question: what are they going to do about Adam?

Lucifer feels that, if they can stop the transfer of knowledge, they can appeal to Christ, who is occasionally willing to go against the Father's wishes and aid humanity. This is especially true as Adam's plans would not just affect Adam, Eve, and the gods, but all of humanity, for whom Christ harbors a soft spot (since he was one). So their plan is to get to the place where Adam and his ally are going to conduct their information transfer and stop it from happening. The easiest way to do this is simply to kill Adam and then, while Adam is in the process of being reincarnated as per the punishment, appeal to the Higher Courts for assistance. They believe this because Adam and Eve do not have to die at the same time for their punishments to continue unchanged, but to attempt to change anything for one or the other would also be to countermand God's will, which would likely not ingratiate the Father to their cause. Also, they're pretty sure his ally is demonic in nature, as only a demon would want to end the world and would also have the power to hide herself and Conrad, so killing her is out. So, as soon as they hear back as to what the location of the transfer is, they will go there and set up early in order to ambush the pair. Lyn is not particularly thrilled with this plan, being that it's not terribly well thought through and it depends on her being able to kill someone. Oh yeah, Lucifer and Hermes both insist that it has to be Eve doing the killing as only she can end one of Adam's lives prematurely. They've each died of old age (or old age related things when people only lived to 40) and not been murdered or whatnot as they can only be killed by the other.

So, Lucifer and Eve come to terms with their relationship, Lyn eventually reconciling the fact that she shouldn't give up love simply because she is going to die. Especially since she's going to come back a couple years later (at most--sometimes it's almost immediate reincarnation) and then Lucifer will find her again. She won't remember him, but she secretly begins harboring a hope that as reward for her service, Christ might convince God to let her remember Lucifer so she won't miss any time with him in each life. It is a silly hope she thinks, but it is her hope nonetheless. It is the only thing she would want from anyone for anything. Not success, not for her parents to accept her despite being "disappointing": she wants to remember the man she loves. One day, a few days before the equinox, Lucifer asks Lyn to marry him, knowing that they shouldn't waste any time and hoping that, should anything go wrong, the connection and joining of their souls in an official ceremony might have an affect on things. Lyn jokes that theirs is a very romantic relationship, but agrees because she understands that Lucifer is trying anything he can not to lose her. So they get hitched the day before they have to go face Adam, not knowing what was going to happen or even if it's going to end with Lyn's death.

During the wedding plans (which definitely help pass the time), one of Lucifer's minions (a shadow demon), spying on Conrad Amitage Inc informs them that there is a place--a field in which only a single field grows. It's in South England. The ley lines come together in such a manner that this one tree can be used to proximate the Tree of Knowledge in a spiritual manner. In essence, for the purpose of whatever spell Adam and his ally are going to do, they will use the tree as a focal point, essentially giving it the power of the real Tree of Knowledge (lost to Adam and all of humankind) for the duration of said ritual. Thus, this tree becomes the point at which the spell had its genesis (no pun intended). There, the ally will say a word to Adam, which Adam will then use to undo the curse and return humanity to a state of grace. Fresh off wedding awesomeness, Lucian, Lyn, and third wheel Hermes (he does NOT feel like a third wheel) journey to said tree in order to wait for the sunrise (as such a thing can be done only at sunrise and sunset, when darkness and light are at their equinox) and Adam (along with his ally).

Just before noon, Conrad appears and, upon seeing Lyn and the others, smiles but otherwise ignores them. Lyn moves in to kill him, but Hermes stops her because they really need to know who his ally is so God can get involved. Even demons are not supposed to really get this involved in human affairs, and it's likely that catching said ally will work in their favor when asking for help in dealing with Adam. God knows every eventuality, but only human Free Will crystallizes every event and, even if He knows what Conrad is up to and who his ally is, only their actions here at the Tree will determine whether God is roused into helping. So Lyn holds back and watches as Adam sets up a circle around the tree and invokes it as the Tree of Knowledge before inviting his ally out from the Twilight. Lilith then appears in all her glory, causing Lucifer and Hermes to have an "aw fuck" moment. As Lilith is still of human origin, no matter her semi-demonic status now, God might not get involved. Their only solution, however, is to continue with the original plan and hope it plays out. Kill Adam and use Lucifer to call out to God for assistance, hoping that they can get at least the Son or, barring that, using the next couple of decades to prepare. So, at best it ends, at worst, they get a reprieve and a chance to work on Lilith.

As soon as noon hits (mere seconds after appearing), Lilith smiles wryly walks over to Adam and whispers a word. The earth rumbles and, outside the circle (which Adam has included Lyn, Hermes, and Lucifer in), the sun goes dark and the firmament cracks. Lucifer realizes that Lilith has shared the Name of God with Adam, which she used to escape Eden when Adam refused to acknowledge her his equal. He has forgotten that particular episode, given that he only really got involved with Earth some years after that. Lilith has already used the name once, which is the limit for any human, but she can still whisper it to another and share the knowledge. He shouts for Eve to run and kill Adam before he utters the word and uses the power of God's name to change the nature of everything. Lilith turns, however, and knocks Lyn backward, keeping her from reaching Adam as he steps up to the Tree, places his hand upon its trunk and whispers the name. In that instant, time stops completely for the world outside the circle and for Adam himself, though not for Lyn, Hermes, Lucifer (who runs to Lyn's side) and Lilith. As time stops, an Angel appears.

Said Angel is Gabriel, acting as God's messenger. The use of God's name is a great sin, great enough to strip Lilith of most of her humanity, and to warrant God's attention despite his efforts to remain out of things. However, the word that Adam has just uttered is not the name of God. Lilith changed a syllable upon giving the name to Adam, knowing that it would sound enough like the Name to convince Adam, but it would affect no actual change to the world. Instead, Adam would have been disintegrated, undone by the corrupted power of God's true name. This is why time was frozen, to prevent that from happening. His punishment needs to continue, Gabriel says, especially given that he just tried to undo existence in order to undo his own, justly deserved, punishment. Further, it would be unjust to Eve, who would also cease to exist if Adam is obliterated, due to the nature of their punishment, which must be shared in some way. One could not cease to exist and leave the other to reincarnate. And as Eve has tried to undo Adam's choices, to save humanity and her children, and uphold Free Will, she does not deserve non-existence. So, though existence is still existing thanks to Lilith's efforts, something must be figured out with regard to Adam and Eve.

Hermes and Lucifer are shocked, coming to figure out that Lilith has actually just saved them all. She laughs, saying that everyone has forgotten her and forgotten that it was she who first exercised Free Will and not Adam and Eve. She was merely reminding them all of that fact. There was nothing she hated more than Adam, except perhaps for God, who made Adam the way he was. This is why she left the Garden. When Adam turned away from God, he came to her, expecting (in his arrogance) that she would help him, not realizing (or refusing to believe as he has never faulted himself for anything) that she hated him almost as much as God. She realized, however, that she could have her revenge on them both--God and Adam. She could thwart Adam's plans (which would actually end her existence, too, because of the humanity in her veins) and, in the process, aid God (protecting His creations and the Son's beloved humans), earning a boon. She hadn't intended on the lesser courts getting involved, or dragging Eve and Lucifer into things, but once she saw that she had an audience, she couldn't help but encourage them in their little plan. Every bit of information, she gave them, or telegraphed, except her presence as part of the plan. Lilith apologizes to Eve for hurting her--she had no intention of doing so--and congratulates her on her wedding to Lucifer. Incredulous, Lyn asked why Lilith would care and Lilith answers that, above all, she did what she did for love. She could never, truly be Sammael's wife because of her humanity--she couldn't stomach Hell for long periods of time, living her life in reverse (having to leave the Twilight for several months or years at a time) of most gods and demonic entities. Her boon, her reward for helping, was to finally be rid of her remaining vestiges of humanity. Only Adam's wife could help, the Fates said. Well, seems she was forgotten again. Eve gets to forget and Lilith is forgotten.

Gabriel, having given Lilith her time to speak (why he was sent instead of Michael, incidentally, as Michael was not fond of Sammael or Lilith), deals out the important stuff. Lilith is made full demon and Sammael comes to get her, welcoming her to Hell as his Queen (finally). Adam is sent to Limbo for all eternity, never to be reborn but to sit in exile, completely aware and feeling the weight of every sin on his shoulders. Eve will remain Evelyn Sinclair, never to die or be reborn again, but to live as Lilith had once lived--human, but also Angelic/Demonic (just like Lucifer). She will remain with Lucifer as his wife, feeding off of Hell to maintain herself just as Lucifer now does. The horrors of doing this is to be her punishment. Further, she is never allowed to see her family again, as a more short-term punishment that solves the problem of her no longer aging. They are to be told that she has died in an accident during her archaeological fun-times. Hermes begs for her to be allowed to enter the Lesser Courts and Gabriel says yes on behalf of God. Then, warning Eve not to visit her family or else earn God's displeasure, Gabriel disappears and the world begins again. Hermes returns to the Courts to inform them of what has happened and Lucifer and Lyn return to his villa to begin their life together.

Epilogue: Honeymooning in Italy. Lyn misses her family and hates Hell, but otherwise she is happy. She has her memories back, she knows who she is, and though she wishes her family could know that she is happy, she has achieved everything she ever wanted: Happiness and Acceptance. She then goes off to have cappuccinos with Hermes and Lucifer at a trattoria, something she'd talked about with Hermes back at the beginning of everything.