When Lucifer fell, there was something waiting for him in the darkness.

"Well, don't just lie there." The voice was polite, but discordant and buzzing.

The Morningstar tried to get to his feet. It was not easy. His wings - once his glory - hung limp and shredded from his shoulders, upsetting his balance. The ex-angel squinted into the blackness surrounding him, trying to make out who or what had spoken. "Where are you?"

"Over here," came the reply.

Lucifer looked around him, but there was nothing to be seen. "Where?"

"Oh." The voice in the darkness chuckled. "I forgot. Allow me."

Like curtains opening to admit the dawn, the darkness parted. Lucifer saw a misshapen figure: half-man half-serpent, its limbs bent and twisted into mockeries of their original forms. He had never seen such a thing before in all of Creation. The creature, whatever it was, offered him a clawed hand. Lucifer hesitated; but, with the pain from his severed tendons still sharp and bright, he thought again. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. We have to look after each other here."

There were so many questions in the fallen one's mind. But, as Lucifer's eyes adjusted to the light and he could see where he was - a place that was bleak and inconstant, without form or meaning - the one that he blurted out was: "What is this place?"

"This?"The ophidian gestured at the surrounding void. "This is the place beyond His reach. This is the place we have been condemned to. It has no name." The creature smiled. "But I think this will come to be known as pre-Augustinian time. One of His jokes."

Lucifer digested this titbit of information. "So - what happens next?"

"We exist."

"Is that all? No punishment? No suffering?"

The other reached out with a claw and plucked a piece of the darkness. The blob squirmed and took on a shape, becoming an almost tangible thing before it gave up and melted away. "What makes you think this is not suffering? To be in this place?" the serpent-man intoned. "We exist here for as long as we can. And then." It shrugged. "And then we do not. It is a burden to exist here. We must constantly define ourselves, remind ourselves of what we were before. It is often too much for one. That is why we help each other."

Lucifer reached out to run his hand across the other's torso. "Were you like this? Before, I mean."

"No. But our memories are not perfect. And this is what I have become. There are others who are ... worse." The creature reached out towards Lucifer, then drew back its hand. "It will happen to you too."

"No." Lucifer stood up straight, burning with resolve. As he remembered what he once was, there was a searing pain from his wings and a crack of bones knitting together. "I will not allow it."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh yes," Lucifer said. "I have a plan."