"You've heard of how God created the earth and the heavens and all things in them in six days and rested on the seventh. You've heard of how God created Adam, the first man and father of all mankind, and formed Eve, the first woman and mother of all mankind, from one of Adam's ribs to be the helper of the man. You've heard the story of the talking snake who tricked the woman into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and how the woman gave the fruit to Adam. You've heard how Adam attempted to shift the blame to the woman upon his Maker calling him out for his disobedience by hearkening onto the voice of the woman rather than their Father in Heaven. You've heard of how the Lord cursed the snake, forcing him to crawl on its belly for all time, and how he put hatred between the seed of the snake and the seed of the woman."
"But you probably haven't heard of the angels whom God created before he created mankind. He created the angels to be the helpers and shepherds of man, the pinnacle of God's creation for he was made in God's very own image."
"However, not all the angels were pleased. Most notable among them was the one called Lucifer, the chief of the angels and whose name meant light bringer. He took personal umbrage to the fact that he, the second most powerful being in all of creation, was subordinated to man in the cosmic hierarchy."
"Lucifer's anger and disobedience towards the Almighty grew until he resolved to seize the throne of God for himself. There was a war in Heaven. As much as one third of the angels sided with Lucifer against the Lord. They lost and were expelled from their high places."
"Lucifer wasn't about to be undone, however. He plotted his greatest act of revenge, to deceive the woman and use her to get the man to fall into sin, forcing God to curse man for his sin and bringing about enmity between man and God so that man would eventually worship Lucifer instead of the Creator in Heaven."
"Lucifer's scheme succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. With the lie that she would know good and evil like God, woman took the bait, and then induced man to do the same. God was forced to expel them from Eden, sentencing both them and all of their descendants to lives of suffering, hardship, and eventual death and alienation from their Creator. Men grew and multiplied over the face of the earth and grew so wicked that God eventually was forced to wipe out all but eight humans, a man named Noah, his wife, his three sons, and his daughters-in-law."
"When the great floodwaters finished washing away the wicked and died down, Noah's descendants quickly repopulated the earth. As they did so, they quickly went back to their old ways, forcing God to confuse their languages and scatter them over the face of the earth."
"Now, even a novice of the Bible knows all this. But, have you ever stopped to think what was Lucifer's punishment for bringing about all this? Why is he still around, seemingly free to roam as he pleases? Well, pilgrim. He isn't."
The demon exited the booth and beckoned Albert to follow him up a down flight of stairs. As he did so, a great roaring sound could be heard. It was a roaring sound came like a cross between an earthquake and a fire.
The sound grew louder the higher they descended the stairs towards a door until it seemed like the entire hallway was shaking. It was also growing unbearably hot.
"Stay back." The demon said and he opened a door. Albert saw nothing but darkness on the other side. When he stepped inside the room, the door slammed shut on its own accord and then he saw the source of the noise on the other side.
Below him, he saw an impossibly huge cavern with a great multitude of people that he could not count. Some of the people were being beaten, whipped, burned, and tortured in various ways. Others were performing menial and repetitive tasks without end. Others were blind, with no eyes, yet tied with ropes and chains to other blind people who kept bumping into and falling into ditches and running into spikes. Others sat at a table and tried to eat, but their utensils were too long or too short. Or the chairs too high or too low. Some were running about, preaching, and arguing with one another in endless circles. Others were just sitting, moaning, weeping, and hurting themselves. Others were attacking one another. The punishments, both externally inflicted and internally inflicted, were varied and diverse.
He also saw rows of people falling into the cavern. When they fell, massive and demonic looking guards branded them with irons and assigned them to their designated place to be punished with torture, hard labor, isolation, deprivation, and everything and anything in between.
Surprisingly, Albert was strangely calm through the whole thing.
"I bet you're asking me what my punishment is, Albert. Go ahead, ask me."
The demon no longer bore any resemblance to the gentle Father Miriam that Albert remembered. For sure, he sounded angry, but he also sounded sad. That anger and sorrow seemed directed as much as himself as it was at Albert.
"What is your punishment?"
"That is my punishment." Satan gestured towards the multitude of screaming and tortured souls wailing for a release they knew would never come. "My punishment is being forced all these long millennia to observe the results of my work. How I facilitated my greatest achievement as well as my greatest folly. I had everything. I was the highest of the angels and second in rank only to my Maker. Yet I forfeit all of it for power. Not content with that, I turned fellow angels and finally, mankind yourselves, against God himself. As my punishment, I was tasked the most thankless job in the Heavenly administration, overseeing the temporary sentencing and punishments of the impenitent damned in Hades. A million souls fall in every era, year, every month, week, day, hour, minute, and second. That number is increasing as I speak. But no one is going out. Most souls are here for common sins that most people commit like lying, stealing, gossiping, or laziness. But still others sin with an exceptional high-hand. Some others think they can sell their souls to me in exchange for power. As if I have any such power to grant. No. I am powerless here. My authority is to oversee your punishment." Over the thousands of years, I have heard every form of excuse from every kind of sinner. But it all boils down to this. It wasn't my fault. I was a good person. I was unjustly accused. I prayed a certain prayer and asked Jesus into my heart. All your knowledge. All your boasting. All your money. All your power. Yet in death, you are all the same. You traded your eternal souls for a porridge. You have done far worse than even I have. I, at least, stood up for my fellow angels for reasons and justice, imperfect as that was. And to think I was to bow down to you. To shepherd you. To regard you as the pinnacle of our Father's creation. Made in his own image. Frankly, I don't know whether to be dismayed or impressed your kind turned out to be so predictable."
Satan snarled and bared his fangs. He would have liked nothing more than to rip Albert to pieces. But he did not do so, almost as if something was keeping him from it.
"You still haven't answered me. You yourself aren't being directly punished or even afflicted with pain in any way." Albert said, still eerily calm.
"For now, I was punished with loss of status and being given the worst job in the administration of Heaven, overseeing this cosmic trash dump. This will all change when God holds court. This is not the real hell. This is a temporary hell. A preview of what is to come. If they knew, they'd rather stay here another thousand years. When that day comes, I will no longer be your scourge and tormentor like I am here. In fact, you will wish that was the case. No. It will be HIM." He pointed a scaly finger up at the ceiling. "I will also be sentenced and will share in your torments. Take that as a comfort if you will. Flatter yourself while you can."
There was real primal fear in Satan's eyes as he spoke. It was a fear that was far stronger than hate or disgust.
"For the rest of eternity, you, me, alongside all the demons, fallen angels, and every impenitent soul will be forced to confront ourselves as we really are. Everything we imagined and flattered ourselves to be, we will be decisively proven that we were not. Everything we once had, we will lose. Every chance we had to make a different choice; we will have lost. That knowledge alone will burn hotter and more intolerably than any earthly fire. But for now, make yourself at home, while you still can. Albert. You won't be leaving. There will be more like you. There always will be."
As Satan spoke, dozens of robed figures surrounded Albert. This time, he did not resist as they bound him hand and foot and carried him off.
"And another one bites the dust." Satan sang under his breath. "And another one bites and another one bites and another one bites the dust."