Everybody Loves Belial: The Prophecy and the Ofanite

By Jonathan Walton

**Flaming
Feather**

A long, long, long, long time ago, before the wind, before the snow, lived a man, lived a man I know, lived a freak of nature named Belial, Ofanite of Divine Fire.* Created by Gabriel in that dark primordial time when Words weren't clearly defined & Archangels hung out with the proletariat, Belial was Fire. Maybe not as much as Gabriel was, sure, but there was no denying that, as one of Gabe's first Ofanim, Belial felt an extremely close connection to the Word he served. In Belial's mind, there was a nice dialectic made by the balance of himself and Gabriel; the Archangel embodied all the warm, bright, and mysterious aspects of Fire, while the lesser Wheel focused instead on the punitive, destructive, consuming, painful, obsessive, burning, unstoppable, madness-inducing, less-than-subtle, in-your-face, rampaging, holocaust of flame that Fire could occasionally be. In those early days before the Fall, when there was no "evil" in Heaven, no one batted an eye when Belial chose to see his Word as a destructive force of choas and death. After all, God Himself created the universe with choas and death in it, so they too had a place in the Divine Plan. Belial could go on imagining that he and Gabriel were brothers and comrades, sharing the Word of Fire and embodying its twin aspects. Like Blandine and Beleth, the two angelic lovers of flame could guide their Word with compassion, duty, and cooperation.

Of course, Gabriel didn't really see things that way at all. And no one (except Belial) was surprised when the Almighty decided to firm up this whole "Word" business and made Gabriel the sole holder of the Word of Fire. After all, Gabriel was one of the first angels created by God; Belial was not. Gabe was a prophet, with a direct connection to the Divine that even Yves couldn't match; Belial was not. Gabriel was a raging force of nature, the being who had lit the sun and made magma to burn in the heart of the earth; Belial, truth be told, was a fairly minor Ofanite in Gabriel's service. No matter how much Belial liked to think of himself as Gabriel's equal or favored companion, it was clear to everyone else that ... well, that just didn't reflect the reality of the situation.

Still, Belial served Gabriel with a zeal that was remarkable. Though he could no longer live under the delusion that he was Fire, or even embodied a part of it, Belial still burned with all the passion an Ofanite is capable of. It wasn't long before his energy and hard work caught the attention of his immediate superior, who, in turn, commened his to Gabriel (the chain of command and commend was much shorter in those days). A meeting was soon arranged. Sure, Gabe remembered Belial. He remembered all his children, but an Archangel's position was a busy one and Gabriel's time for personal interaction was limited. So when Belial strolled into the Volcano's inner chambers one bright 3000 degree morning, it was the first time in a while that the two were face to face. Strangely enough, despite good intentions on the part of all parties, things didn't go well.

The very moment he glimpsed Belial, Gabriel went into a trance and witnessed a private vision broadcast direct from the Godhead. Just what the vision contained, no one but the Archangel will ever know, but it evidently had something to do with the future of the Belial-Gabriel relationship, specifically what would take place after the Fall.

"Belial!" spaketh Gabriel, an essence-filled froth erupting from the Archangel's celestial mouth. "Prince of the Mountain of Flame, Lighter of the Pit of Darkness, Fire, oh Fire! Why did you take it from me, why?! Oh, traitor! Lackey of Lucifer! Do you think the two of you can steal my Fire?! Light and Destruction do not a Fire make! Etc. Etc. Etc!"

Now, Belial and the rest present were, as you can imagine, rather perplexed and disturbed by this entire event. Taking charge, Soldekai politely asked Belial to leave (since it was the Ofanite's presence that triggered the painful vision) while they calmed Gabriel down, recorded the prophecy, and mulled over what it might mean. Instead of having a personal conversation with his Archangel, Belial was hurried out and left to wander about the Volcano. Of course, with the extra time on his hands, Belial tried to try his own hand at prophecy interpretation.

What he came up with was a series of basic conclusions:

  1. Gabriel foresaw that, one day, Belial would hold the Word of Fire.
  2. Gabriel also saw Belial ruling the Volcano ("Prince of the Mountain of Flame")
  3. Lucifer, the Archangel of Light, would somehow help Belial achieve both these things.
  4. Belial's own ascension to Archangel of Fire would be a glorious event, the one light of hope in a time of trouble ("Lighter of the Pit of Darkness")

Now, these conclusions were more than a little unsettling. They forced Belial to do some serious thinking, something he normally avoided. Belial loved Gabriel with his entire little Ofanite heart, but the Archangel was still only a hand of the Almighty, to which Belial owed his true allegiance and absolute loyalty. Now, God, through Gabriel, had made it known that Belial would someday replace the Archangel of Fire. The Ineffable Plan had gotten very, very strange indeed.

With the prophecy firmly in Belial's head, the Ofanite's seduction by Lucifer was disgustingly easy. Belial told the Lightbringer what Gabriel had said and Lucifer, being Lucifer, explained it completely. It was obvious that God meant for Belial to join the Archangel of Light in his revolt against the Metatron and its supporters. Gabriel was, regrettably, on the other side, but when Lucifer triumphed, Belial would become the Archangel of Fire, as God had prophesied through Gabriel.

Of course, things didn't work out that way.

Turns out God didn't actually want Belial to replace Gabriel. The new Calabite Prince of Fire found himself ruler of his own "mountain of flame" in Sheol, creating the infamous burning fires of Hell ("lit the Pit"), and it was all because of Lucifer. Truth be told, he's still recovering from the shock of being so completely wrong.

*apologies to the RHCP.

**Flaming
Feather**

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