Paradise Lost

Doom has come. What was forbidden has been taken. Now judgement must follow. The world is darkened by the entrance of sin. God descends in the company of angels to pronounce his sentence on the first of mankind. For their trespass, they are exiled from paradise forever. Raising his hand, God points the way for their exodus. Eve falls limply to the ground, having realized too late the consequences of her actions. She weeps and covers her face with her hand. With the other hand, Eve grasps her husband's forearm for comfort and support. But he offers none. Rather, Adam pulls himself inward as if he were still trying to hide what he'd done. He runs his fingers through his hair, coming to grips with the magnitude of his sin. His eyes gaze forward never straying to look at wither his wife or his maker. He simply looks straight ahead daring anyone to try to tell him of any good that had come of his disobedience. Up above, God waits for his beloved creation to leave his presence. Though He does not want them to go, He must send them out for His holiness and perfections cannot abide the presence of sin. So He, with will and face set sternly, commands man's removal from paradise. Yet in His mind, He already has a plan for their redemption. One of the angels waits at the right hand of his maker bearing a a flaming sword. He gazes upon the Creator till he should be commanded to guard the entrance to paradise so as to save man from further destruction. Still another angel, this one on God's left, stares at his maker in astonishment. It is known throughout creation that man is God's beloved of all He had made. Yet now He is banishing them from the home He had given them. Below God is the last angel of His retinue. Underneath and almost supporting the Creator, he looks upon the most unfortunate of all creation. These creatures, made in the very image of God himself, are a wonderment to the rest of creation. This last angel's look is one of neither sorrow nor gladness but of the most sincere curiosity and puzzlement of man's ability to reject Almighty God. Below both God and man is the ruiner of all. The once bright and morning star is now a dark, creeping thing. He flees the presence of God and goes into the underbrush. His eyes burn an unearthly red, full of malice and fury and hunger. Hungry for the next victim of destruction. As he escapes, his arms seem ready at any time to smite and grasp and drag with him anyone into the darkness in which he must dwell all his days. His serpent guise lies at his feet, discarded so that he may put on another. Even the earth feels the effects of what has just taken place. The sky goes grey and clouds cover the sun. All of Eden is falling into darkness. The only remmnant of hte former Eden is that above the first of mankind. The last of the sun's perfect rays shine gently upon the banished figures, giving them their last of paradise