N/A: Hey! English isn't my first language, so feel free to highlight any kind of typo in your review, if you feel like it. I will edit them out once they are reported. This is my first attempt at writing Fanfiction (not at writing), so I'm open to pointers as well.

Since there isn't much of a canon for this yet, I'm taking ample liberties. This is the prologue, but won't be the actual focus of the fanfiction. I'm just setting this up as I want to continue this scene as an entry in every chapter. Each chapter will start with this conversation, and I'll try to make it have some insight into the events of the actual story.

Anyway, I hope that this doesn't bother you to death and I'll get some support in order to go forward and have some more action-oriented scenes.

Thanks for reading!

Let there be Truth - Prologue

"Reverend Egbert?" Chloe had been asking repeatedly as soon as a man had approached the door of his office. This time, however, the big fellow with a lush, black beard nodded with a smile bright enough to light the dim corridor of the modern abbey.

"Detective Decker, I assume?" He tucked his briefcase under his arm and extended a large, powerful hand which she shook without hesitation.

"Yes, I would like to talk to you about…"

"I know, Detective," he interrupted, although he seemed sorry he had to. "Please, come into my office. My field of study is seldom one my colleagues want to hear about."

"Of course, Sir," Chloe stepped in front of him after he opened the door for her. "I'm sorry. This has been troubling me for quite some time."

The reverend quietly walked to his desk and invited her to sit with a simple gesture. "It's a rather interesting subject, but do not let your fears run wild. May I ask which denomination you pertain to?" He gave another bright smile. "I don't mean to sound sectarian in anyway, but not every Christian church deals with the devil in the same way."

"I…" Chloe stopped. "I'm not…" Which was the correct way to tell a reverend that you didn't believe in the Bible, any Bible that is?

He shook his head as though he wanted to dispel her fears. "I understand. I will then assume that you're familiar with the concept which you can find in popular culture." The reverend opened one of his drawers and took out a picture of a man with a goatee, a black cape, a red tail and horns.

Chloe immediately smiled thinking about what Lucifer would look like wearing that corny old costume, but the joy faded as soon as she remembered the blood on Jimmy Barnes' cell door. She cleared her throat. "I am."

Reverend Egbert put the picture back in his drawer. "Well, what can you tell me about the devil?"

"He was cast from Heaven," she started.

The man nodded. "Absolutely. You are right about that."

"He is the ruler of hell."

"Right, once again."

Chloe took a deep breath. "He is the epitome of all that is evil."

The reverend paused, this time around, and cocked his head to the side. "Now, that is a common misconception. But how come you would doubt that?"

"Doubt it?" Chloe repeated. She straightened her back. "The devil is evil, it's well known." As much as she tried to sound convincing, she'd never believed in the devil. And now that she started to believe Lucifer really was that mythical entity, she couldn't bring herself to think that he was truly evil. Then again, wasn't that the kind of trick demons were supposed to pull? "But wait, you said it's a misconception?"

The reverend gave a little sigh. "Sadly, people too often mix things up together. For instance, much like Judaism, Christianism has only one god. The good god, if you will. But the way we understand things often bring us to believe that if there's right, there's wrong. Manicheanism is a prime example of that. One good god, one evil god. However, while there is a concept of Satan, in the Bible – even in the Old Testament – this is not the devil."

Thankfully, Chloe had been a detective long enough to follow even the most boring conversation with some kind of interest. While she'd come here to learn more about the scholar's view on Lucifer, she couldn't help herself but feel like this was all nonsense anyway. Still, the reverend had a rather systematic approach of the problem for a believer. He didn't go on a fiery rampage, warning about the works of the devil in our everyday life. But most importantly, he was telling her exactly what she wanted to hear. Even if Lucifer was the devil, it didn't mean that he was evil.

"You must not forget that Lucifer is and remains an angel. He is a creature of God and not a god himself. Why would God create an evil angel?"

Chloe frowned. "But didn't he get cast out of heaven after he corrupted Adam and Eve? Isn't that evil?"

The reverend looked at her with kindness, but she felt that he was also a bit amused by her remark. "People love to make assumptions. I assume you've never read the Bible with any real attention. The serpent, the snake told Eve to eat the fruit. And God condemned the snake to live on his belly. It tells the story of why snakes don't have legs, and why we do not live in Eden anymore." He paused for her to assimilate what he was saying. "Satan… It means adversary. Some would argue that it's a figure of speech for adversity, actually. God would not have to work, and humankind wouldn't have to struggle if it weren't for some kind of adversity."

"So Lucifer is the devil. But Satan is not?" Chloe tried.

"It's very possible that Satan isn't an entity but a title to qualify those not human who act against God."

"Wait, if he didn't get cast out of Heaven because of the apple, then why?"

The reverend put his hands together. "Well, it's complicated. In fact, it's unclear. According to certain manuscripts, Lucifer was cast down from Heaven with many other angels because they wanted to sleep with humans."

"I could imagine that," Chloe said almost despite herself, thinking about Lucifer's promiscuity. Maze didn't exactly seem like the kind to wear a chastity belt, but for some reason, that didn't bother the detective in anyway.

"There is however little to confirm the fact. While many scholars have made large speculations as to the order of angels, their hierarchy and their place in Heaven, only one thing transpires as to the nature of angels."

Chloe did her best not to press the reverend to continue while he was searching a stack of papers, behind his desk. He came up with a rather simple chart, a large piece of paper separated in two, on the top, drawings of winged figures, on the bottom, pictures of bits and pieces of a fresco.

"Each angel has a purpose. Each of them is an agent of God, a worker if you will."

She studied the chart, or rather, looked frenetically for the devil. In vain. "What about Lucifer?"

"Lucifer, literally light-bringer." He tapped the very first figure under which there was an abstract carving of wavy shapes under rectangular shapes. "The very first. Right after God created Heaven and Earth, back when there was no hell and everything was darkness. God said…" The reverend paused and looked at her.

"Let there be light," she completed.