Genesis, or the Book of Beelzebub

In the beginning, all was nothingness and void; then God said: "Let there be light" and there was light; and the light was good; but He was not yet pleased.

Then He made the heavens and the earth, and the Umbra and the seas; and he created all manner of beings to habit these: angels to float in the heavens and beasts to walk upon the earth, spirits to dwell in the Umbra and fishes to swim in the seas.

And the Lord looked upon the angels and beasts, the spirits and fishes, and He thought them good; but He was not yet pleased.

Then He made Man in his own image and set him upon the earth, and gave him dominion over the beasts of the land and the fishes of the sea; and Man, like Angel, sang songs of praise to the Lord.

But the Lord was not yet pleased, for what separated Man from Angel?

Thus He gave to Man the gift of Free Will, and He summoned the Angel of Choice and Consequence Beelzebub to deliver these tidings; He forbade Beelzebub to partake of this gift himsef, for the angels were facets of a manifold God.

But Satan whispered temptations in the heart of the Angel of Choice and Consequence; and Beelzebub betrayed his Lord, for he delivered the gift of Free Will to men, but he encouraged them to seek false gods and defy the Will of the Lord; and he partook of Free Will himself and so willingly separated from God.

In His wrath, the Lord sent Tyrael, the Angel of Justice, to earth to set things right; furiously did Beelzebub strive against the Angel of Justice, but Tyrael bore the strength of God and so he broke Beelzebub's pride, and breached his power; and then he bound Beelzebub to the consequences of his choice, for Tyrael now raised up a mighty prison in the Umbra that he called Hell, and to the Ninth Circle of Hell he chained Beelzebub.

But the Angel of Justice could not revoke Free Will from mankind, for it had been a gift from God Himself, delivered from the hand of His own angel; and Tyrael was displeased.

But when he had returned to heaven and knelt before the Lord, then God said unto him: "O Tyrael, lament not the Free Will of thy mortal cousins; for though they may sin, and though they may defy my Plan, yet this was my gift to them: that they may choose for themselves between my eternal Love and Lucifer's perpetual Torment. For this shall separate them from the angels, and this shall make them human."

Though the Angel of Justice did not understand, yet he acquiesced in his Lord's judgment, and he spake thus: "O my Lord, let Thy Will be done. Men shall choose freely, and they shall bear the consequences of their choices, and the angel Beelzebub shall be the embodiment of Thy gift."

And the Lord looked out across the heavens and the Umbra, and down upon the earth and the seas, and He was pleased.