1.6 – The Baals (Book1, Ch6)

With Lucifer now locked in Illusia with his father Zebub, the rest of his fallen lumenarcs took little interest in the goings on occurring of your planet (1).

While I was focused on molding Kane to my designs, Adam and Eve eventually overcame their remorse and had other children. They were careful to offer special sacrifices at each birth and they dedicated every one of them to Yahway (2). First came Zeth, a boy, then Norea, a girl. In all, Adam and Eve had 30 more sons and 30 more daughters. Yet interestingly enough, try though I might to influence them, because all 60 of these children were born with souls that I had not hand-picked or tortured, I was unable to directly influence any of them to bend to his wishes. Yes, acting as Yahway, I was able to get them to worship the creator god, but frustratingly enough, my efforts to turn them to the dark side were never successful (3).

For his part, against my wishes, Kane repeatedly tried to get back in the graces of his family, acting remorseful for his actions against Kabyl and wanting to reconcile with Adam and his new children. Unfortunately for Kane, Adam and his sons continued to reject Kane (4). That meant Kane continued to be shunned (5).

Although I was frustrated that I wasn’t able to hand-pick the souls which found their way into Adam’s children, rather than get bent out of shape about the situation, I looked upon it as a new challenge. As the wisest lumenarc I knew I could crack this code eventually so I studied Adam and his children — trying to understand the connection between the self-procreated life in their bodies and the Illyrian souls which instantly entered them at the moment of conception. Wisdom did not come easy to me on this topic and I often took out my anger on Kane (6). Thankfully for Kane, he was too valuable for me to destroy, and thankfully for me, I I wasn’t one to just give up when faced with a challenge — I knew that, if I could solve this riddle, it would complete a bridge that would lead to the fulfillment of my own grand plans. Since Zeth and his siblings had proven more difficult to tempt than Kane, I utilized one of my many backup plans — in this case, continuing to appear to Adam’s “beloved” children in the form of Yahway – and while I hadn’t yet been able to use this deity to make Zeth and his people do overtly evil things like kind Kane was keen on, I was successfully able to cloud their minds about the nature of what a ‘good’ god actually was. Therefore I was able to get them to believe in the oft-contradictory concepts that their Yahway (7) was in reality a jealous god who required total allegiance to the worship of himself alone, threatening destruction and desolation to any who challenged him, and demanding ever more sacrifice and suffering on the part of his chosen ones if they wanted to find The Way back to paradise and leave the misery of this world.

“Why do the blind fools accept such a paradox?” I often amused myself with this and similar questions after interacting with Zeth and his clans – a people whose numbers had continue to swell over the years. “Alas, one can only conclude that I am simply too good at my job. The poor creatures really never had a chance, did they?”

Nevertheless, in spite of how proud I was with my abilities to toy with the humans of Terra, I remained dissatisfied with the reality of my situation. For more than anything else, I longed to step forward into the world as my true self — and to have the people of Terra worship me as their savior god — not Yahway, not Zebub, not El, not A’H, nor any other deity, real or imagined, but me, Nektar (8). However I was not too foolish as to forget that just because I wanted something, that didn’t mean I would get it immediately. Because there were still a lot of other lumenarcs floating around The Middle Plane, I couldn’t risk word getting back to Illusia that the people of Terra were paying homage to me directly, so I had to be patient and use another end around tactic.

It was here that I also installed another layer to my plans with Kane. Having taken everything away from him, I’d long since accomplished the task of getting Kane to hate his father’s god Yahway (9). Now it was time to give Kane a god of his very own.

“You shall call me Baal.” My new alter ego deity instructed the forsaken man (10). “Unlike Yahway, I will fulfill your dreams — starting with giving you a family of your own. You need only to kneel before me, child.”

Kane was awestruck at the monstrosity that stood before him — my made up deity appearing in the form of a towering figure: a grotesque half-man, half he-goat, covered with mattered black hair, and with massive horns piercing out from his skull (11). Barely able to mumble a word, the cursed man with the mark of infamy on his forehead fell at Baal’s feet. 

“You have done well.” My Baal grumbled at Kane. “And I will do well by you.” Casting a sleep over the man, I got to work creating more humans.

This time I made the humans in the mold of Kane; male and female I made them – and into each mortal vessel, I forced a hand-picked soul from stellarones, all of them warped from the tortures I had lavished on them over the years, waiting for just this occasion. Furthermore, unlike the souls of the children of Adam (12), for these ‘descendants of Kane’ I was sure to wipe clear each soul’s memory of Illyria before insertion into their mortal bodies, thus cursing them to a tormented existence here on Earth, away from the divine realm where they belonged – and providing yet more fodder for my own designs.

My cloning abilities now at their peak, I created untold scores of men and women, and I placed all my humans under Kane’s leadership. For his part Kane relished his new role — quickly fathering three sons of his own — Enoch, Drok and Derk  — the only children he would ever sire. Kane’s clans also procreated on their own (13). In a brief time, the numbers of Kane’s people swelled and they spread throughout the land. The numbers were still small so I was able to keep everybody sheltered from The Amorosi (14), from the Mylars (15), and from the various ‘evil’ beasts that I had created myself. I did this because I wanted Kane’s people to make war with Zeth’s clans so that life would be miserable for all of them. To accomplish this, I continued to develop the Baal persona for Kane and his people — given their lineage, they were always amenable to my temptations, so I had no trouble getting them to accept Baal as an overtly demonic god who was unabashedly evil in both appearance and in the way he demanded they worship him.

“I control this world completely.” My Baal growled in front Kane’s people.  “I am the god of everything that is powerful – the sun, the moon, the land, the lightning, the wind, the heavens, and more. I am All. Worship me and I will reward you by letting you live. Kill all those who do not acknowledge me.” And when it became clear that Kane’s offspring had no trouble accepting these requirements, I took things a step further. “I demand more. I demand the best of your crops and livestock. Sacrifice your first fruits and the fattest of your herds to me and in return I will fill your coffers with riches.” Kane’s people again complied — all too happy to set fire to their foodstuffs and foolishly slaughtering their best animals to appease Baal. However my made-up deity rarely fulfilled his end of the bargain — this was on purpose, because just like with Yahway, I wanted Baal’s worshipers to eventually hate him as well — since I planned to tie the name of this false god to a very real one in due time. Meanwhile, in spite of the little I had Baal give back to Kane’s clans, they continued to offer sacrifices to the fearsome god – whether this was out of fear or duty, who can say? Wanting to see how far they would go, I then had Baal demand their children too. “Sacrifice your most beloved ones to me and show me that you truly fear my name.” Amazingly Kane’s people complied even to this – much to my delight (16).

Yet just as I was about to advance my plans, I was unexpectedly summoned to Illusia “to answer for my crimes.” I always knew there would be hell to pay (17) with Lucifer for the situation that occurred with Eve, so luckily I’d been preparing for this event for some time, and before I left I managed to smuggle a few things with me — to include a handful of tortured souls and the woman Lilith (18).

When I arrived in Illusia, Lucifer was in all his glory – having called to court leagues of lumenarcs to pay him homage. They were lined up by the thousands and all of them appeared to be in on the joke – since it was obvious that the closer I got to Lucifer the more he began salivating at the thought of destroying me. Yet as my brothers and sisters screamed for my blood, before Lucifer could raise his hand against me I surprised him with a gift — laying multiple demons at his feet, ghouls who immediately began to worship the Dark Prince, cooing at his every move.

Lucifer was surprised. Yet before he could speak, I brought forth Lilith and the tortured stellarones, and proceeded to explain that I’d been working with the woman and the stolen souls for some time back on Terra.

“The process has been long and arduous, my Lord, and surely it would have been easier with you directing me.” I used my most subservient voice. “But thankfully, I finally discovered how to mate them together and produce these demonic creatures. I call them baals. They live to serve you, Lord.” Next I showcased Lilith, “She is willing to be the Mother of Demons for you, Lord. And will provide you with… whatever else you desire of her. Do these gifts please you, Lord?”

My question wasn’t really necessary for the look on Lucifer’s face told the answer — to the great disappointment of my now-jealous lumenarc colleagues, it was clear that The Dark Price was happy. I knew he’d always lusted for Lilith and it was obvious that was still the case. And just to take the spotlight off my completely, I conducted a little misdirection as well.

“Can you feel the evil that oozes from them, Lord?” I drew Lucifer’s attention back to the demons that fawned all around him. “Perhaps a new cognomen is in order to mark the occasion?”

Although Lucifer already had an armory of monikers, I knew his ego couldn’t resist another.

“What dost thou have in mind?” Zebub’s son gloated over his demon horde.

“You shall be called Baal-Zebub.” I boldly proclaimed.

Lucifer was shocked by the suggestion and the crowd cowered – fearing backlash from Zebub Itself – whose aura was everywhere. But having prepared for this moment, I was quick to continue. “Sire, it’s a name for the ages and only you can hold it — for such a cognomen will honor your father. It bind you together even more. And now you’ll be known for all time as The Demon Lord.”

The universe was hushed as all waited for Zebub to consider the proposition.

At last Illusia pulsated in approval — and Lucifer smiled, all to happy with his newest moniker (19). 

Knowing I was safe, I watched as the new “Baal-Zebub” grew even more prideful, demanding all his subjects bow down to him as he basked in the glory of his name and his new toys (20).

That was probably my easiest visit ever to Illusia. Not only was my time there short  — just a few years–  but more importantly I was a bit of a celebrity for a while – enjoying special treatment on Illusian Isle (21) during my stay. However Baal-Zebub was eager for me to continue my work in the Middle Plane (22), so when my master suggested I return to Terra early with a full supply of <hellfire> I jumped at the opportunity.

“If you wish, my Lord.” I acquiesced (23).

***

I rejoiced when I returned to Terra. Wanting nothing more than to continue my experiments, I reestablished my fellowship with Kane. I was pleased to see that he and his people had continued their faith in Baal. On one occasion, Kane even boasted that his clans would follow Baal to the ends of the earth, so on Kane’s 53rd birthday I instructed him to do just that.

“Leave a portion of your people here under your son Enoch’s control so he can continue to harass Zeth’s people.” Baal instructed Kane. “But you and your sons Drok and Derk will lead the rest of your clans west. You will undergo a long and arduous journey and along the way your people will populate the world — for I give it all to you. But you and your two sons must continue on until you reach The Promised Land.“

“The Promised Land?” Kane was confused.

“Because you have worshiped me according to my desire, I have created a special place for you — a land flowing with milk and honey. When you arrive, you will know it is Home. There you shall find rest, Kane.” (24)

That was all it took to get Kane to migrate — over the course of the next century, he led his people all the way to TerrVerde. Along the journey they were eventually discovered by The Amorosi – who were so shocked by the sheer numbers of Kane’s clans that Adam’s first group of children panicked and started withdrawing from the world like their Mylar brothers had done centuries past. In fact, so traumatized were the Amorosi by the appearance of Mankind as a species, their historians marked the discovery of this new people as THE major event that spelled the end of their Third Age of Substance (25).

But I had little time to enjoy all this for it seemed Baal-Zebub was growing antsy. Although my promises that ‘success was imminent’ were good enough to keep me getting sent back here, they were perhaps a bit too good…

Nektar’s Notes

1. It’s a shame because they missed quite a show.
2. Which was a bit sickening.
3. Zeth and Norea would eventually become especially painful thorns in my side throughout their lives, but that is a completely different story and we don’t have time for it here. 
4. Due in large part to the fact that I had poisoned their minds against Kane – for I continued to disguise myself as Yahway and warned them that if they consorted with Kane, then Kane’s “sin” would darken their souls as well. By this time Adam was scared to death of the committing any sin – remembering all too well the consequences of his prior ones — so it didn’t take much to keep him on the path I wanted him to be.
5. Just as I wanted.
6. I guess that makes Kane the world’s first whipping boy.
7. Allegedly the All-Powerful and the All-Good.
8. Truename “Azazel” if you must know.
9. Particularly because my Yahway character had also continued to torture Kane over the years.
10. And yes the name I chose  (Baal) was intentional.
11. What –you think the horns were too much?
12. Over whom I still had no direct power.
13. Yet they did so in such a way that I was always able to control which soul entered Kane’s children’s children at the moment of their conception.
14. Who hadn’t discovered them yet.
15. Who didn’t seem to care.
16. Although I pretended to look the other way when Kane himself conveniently avoided killing any of his own sons – which was fine because I had more important plans for them than to be wasted as sacrificial fodder.
17. Literally.
18. Whom I’d tracked down a while back and had been holding hostage while waiting for just this occasion.
19. An interesting note: “Baal-Zebub” literally translates in your lesser language as “Lord of the Flies” or some even say “Lord of the Dung Pile” but we don’t need to tell Lucifer that.
20. Never realizing his demon minions were under my control.
21. The location of Lucifer’s High Court.
22. Probably due to the fact that I often dropped hints that I was getting ever closer to breaking the locks that separated Illusia from the other dimensions.
23. I want to pause here to ensure you understand something. Is it clear to you why I chose the name Baal for the deity I created for Kane’s people? What, you don’t get it? Oh, simple-minded generation, how long must I be burdened with you? Don’t you remember the plan? Do I really have to spell it out for you? I created Yahway so his worshippers would eventually hate him — and by extension A’H. I created Baal so that his worshipers would come to the same conclusion about Baal-Zebub — and by extension Zebub. Humans are the key to it all. Once I have you under my control AND you help me destroy the two original All-Powerful Ones (which only YOU have the power to do), then there will be power vacuum that needs to be filled. I wonder if there are any other qualified candidates?
24. This was all a lie of course – but Kane wouldn’t figure that out for a long, looooong time. 
25. As an interesting side note, Amorosi scientists eventually concluded that humans evolved from a race of intelligent sheep creatures because of their penchant for following each other in mindless herds – remind me to tell you that tale sometimes, it’s quite amusing.